St. Clair County Hazard Mitigation Plan

Plan Overview:
Across the United States, natural and manmade disasters have led to increasing levels of death, injury, property damage, and interruption of business and government services. The impact on families and individuals can be immense and damages to businesses can result in regional economic consequences. The time, money and effort to respond to and recover from these disasters divert public resources and attention from other important programs and problems. The elected and appointed officials of the county also know that with careful selection, mitigation actions in the form of projects and programs can become long-term, cost effective means for reducing the impact of natural and manmade hazards.

This Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan for St. Clair County, Michigan (the Plan), is being prepared with input from county residents, responsible local officials, and with the support of the Michigan State Police - Emergency Management Division (MSP/EMD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The process to develop the Plan includes coordination with representatives from numerous jurisdictions and other organizations in the county. The Plan will guide the county toward greater disaster resistance in harmony with the character and needs of the community.

This Hazard Mitigation Plan is specifically being written to satisfy the requirements of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000), which is the latest legislation to improve the hazard planning process (Public Law 106-390). By adopting the plan, St. Clair County will remain eligible for various federally funded hazard mitigation grant opportunities for five years. DMA 2000 reinforces the importance of mitigation planning and emphasizes planning for disasters before they occur and establishes a pre-disaster hazard mitigation program and new requirements for the national post-disaster Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). It identifies new requirements that allow HMGP funds to be utilized for planning activities, and amplifies the amount of HMGP funding available to states that have developed a comprehensive mitigation plan prior to a disaster. States and communities are required to have an approved mitigation plan in position prior to receiving post-disaster HMGP funds. Local and tribal mitigation plans must demonstrate that their proposed mitigation measures are based on a sound planning process that accounts for the risk to and the capabilities of the overall community.

This Plan is intended to serve many purposes, including:

• Increasing public awareness to help residents of St. Clair County better understand the natural and manmade hazards that threaten public health, safety, and welfare; economic vitality; and the operational capability of important institutions;
• Enhancing decision making capacity by providing information that managers and leaders of local government, business and industry, community associations, and other key institutions and organizations need to take action to address vulnerabilities to future disasters;
• Developing a detailed community profile that can be utilized to as reference when considering the potential impacts that a hazard can have on a range of community assets;
• Providing inter-jurisdictional coordination of mitigation-related programming to ensure that proposals for mitigation initiatives are reviewed and coordinated among the participating jurisdictions within the county; and
• Promoting compliance with state and federal programming to ensure that St. Clair County and its communities can take full advantage of state and federal grant programs that encourage or mandate efficient hazard mitigation planning;

The Plan will present a comprehensive study of the hazards that have impacted St. Clair County in the past, as well as those that have the potential to occur in the future. Some of these hazards are a greater threat to some communities than others, and some of the hazards could harm one sector of society more than others.

The Hazard Mitigation Plan will be incorporated into existing planning mechanisms, including the St. Clair County Master Plan to ensure efficient planning for the safety of the county’s residents.

Documents:
Cover and Credits (0.4 Mb)
Executive Summary (2.2 Mb)
Table of Contents (< 0.1 Mb)
01 Introduction (0.4 Mb)
02 Community Profile (13.1 Mb)
03 Hazard Profiles (5.3 Mb)
04 Risk & Vulnerability Assessment (1.4 Mb)
05 Capacity to Address Hazards (0.3 Mb)
06 Public Involvement (0.6 Mb)
07 Hazard Mitigation Goals & Objectives (< 0.1 Mb)
08 Inventory of Hazard Mitigation Actions (0.2 Mb)
09 Implementation of All-Hazard Mitigation (0.1 Mb)
10 Hazard Mitigation Action Plan (0.1 Mb)
11 Funding All-Hazard Mitigation (0.4 Mb)
12 Integrating All-Hazard Planning Into Policy & Regulatory Framework (2.8 Mb)
13 Hazard Mitigation Plan Monitoring & Maintenance (< 0.1 Mb)
14 Resources and Tools (< 0.1 Mb)

Comments, questions or feedback: hazplan@stclaircounty.org