FEMA now requires local communities to develop Local Hazard Mitigation Plans before they can receive federal pre-disaster grants to fund precautionary actions before a disaster strikes. The plans are meant to encourage day-to-day decision-making about land use, site design, and other functions that could mitigate or lessen the impact of a future disaster (view and download FEMA fact sheet and related California senate bill 1241).
Mitigation planning includes the following elements:
- Public Involvement – Emergency managers, government agencies, businesses, civic groups, environmental groups, and schools.
- Risk Assessment – Estimation of the frequency and magnitude of natural and man-made disasters, and assess potential losses to life and property.
- Mitigation Strategy – Activities to be implemented that are effective, technically feasible, cost-effective, and environmentally sound.
Oakland's plan is intended to assess the risks to the City and to the people of Oakland, from natural and human-caused hazards.
This plan (download here) continues the City's ongoing process to evaluate the risks that different hazards pose to Berkeley, and to engage the community in dialogue to identify the most important steps that the City and its partners should pursue to reduce these risks.
This document (download here) provides a comprehensive, scientifically based analysis of wildfire related to the hazards and risk in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas of Alameda County, CA. The analysis is delivered in the form of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) and follows the standards for CWPPs that have been established by the federal Healthy Forest Restoration Act.
In order to reduce the risk of loss of life and property due to wildfire, the Diablo Fire Safe Council and project partners have worked with residents, representatives of federal, regional, state and local agencies along with community organizations to update the Contra Costa County Community Wildfire Protection Plan adopted in 2009 (download the 2014 plan here).
The East Bay Regional Park District’s draft plan focuses on natural hazards and covers each of the major natural hazards that pose significant threats to the Park District. The plan reviews hazard data for each hazard, evaluates the vulnerability of the Park District to each hazard and includes mitigation Action Items to gradually reduce the risks to the Park District from natural hazards.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District’s (EBMUD's) 2016 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan is an update to its 2011 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (2011 LHMP) and reflects EBMUD’s most current system upgrades, improvements, and mitigation measures to reduce the community’s exposure to hazards and to improve the reliability of its services to the public.
This planning guide is one in a series of technical advisories provided by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) as a service to professional planners, land use officials, and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) practitioners. OPR issues technical guidance on issues that broadly affect the practice of CEQA and land use planning.