Hazard Mitigation Plan is being prepared for Cambria
About two dozen stakeholders learned more Monday, Nov. 14, about a process that will produce a Local Hazard Mitigation Plan for Cambria, which can help the community be more prepared for disasters and possibly qualify for federal funds.
Category Five Professional Consultants will prepare Cambria’s $39,500 plan, as authorized by the Cambria Community Services District, which is working with San Luis Obispo County officials on the document. A grant paid for most of the plan’s cost; the CSD is paying the $9,500 balance.
The firm’s principals, former San Luis Obispo fire chief Bob Neumann and Sheri Eibschutz, described to attendees why such a plan is important for Cambria, the research that leads up to it, what will be in the plan and what the process is for getting it approved.
The two consultants said that a hazard mitigation plan (HMP) can be enormously helpful (and can sometimes be formally required), if the town is to qualify for federal grants and funding to prepare for or recover from such catastrophes as floods, wildfires, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis or the effects of extreme weather including storms (wind, lightning, heavy rain, etc.).
Neumann said many of Cambria’s risks are fairly obvious, with the frequency of floods and droughts, proximity to earthquake faults, a drought-ravaged native Monterey pine forest that increases fire risk, steep hillsides and streets that can be prone to landslides, and some narrow streets and neighborhoods with only one road for going in and out of the area.
For the HMP, the pair will develop a comprehensive list of Cambria’s natural hazards, along with a roster of vulnerable structures. Those assessments will help them determine where Cambria’s serious risks are. The consultants then establish mitigation goals and actions to help reduce, or even avoid, effects from those hazards.
While preparing the HMP, the consultants review past and current planning documents, seek input from a wide range of stakeholders and community members, secure political support, take comments from the community, get approvals for the plan and construct an area profile.
Neumann and Eibschutz will hold a public meeting on the draft version, likely in the spring, to get input and suggestions from the rest of the community. The consultants would then finalize the 5-year HMP and begin the rounds of submitting it, perhaps as early as May or June, to the services district, state Office of Emergency Services and Federal Emergency Management Agency, respectively.
The organizational meeting Nov. 14 included representatives from CCSD, county Office of Emergency Services, county government, nonprofit conservation groups, real estate and building industries, FireSafe Council and Cambria FireSafe Focus Group.
To learn more about Category Five, go to www.cafive.com.
This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 10:07 AM with the headline "Hazard Mitigation Plan is being prepared for Cambria."