Hazard Mitigation Best Practices

The major question haunting hazard mitigation planning in recent years has been how best to move beyond the serious disconnect that often exists between such planning and other local planning activities. The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, which conditions eligibility for hazard mitigation grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) upon a state's or local jurisdiction's official participation in an approved local hazard mitigation plan under the act, has moved many communities forward in thinking about such plans. But there remains considerable room for improvement in tying those plans effectively to daily planning activities in those communities.

The APA Hazards Planning Research Center is currently looking for planning documents and related publications that address hazard mitigation, to create a collection of best practices that make the connection between hazard mitigation planning and other local planning activities. Planners have a real opportunity to affect change on a wide variety of subjects through their strategic position as advisors to policy makers in town, city, county, and regional governments.
 
Specifically we are seeking the following types of documents and published materials (examples in parentheses):

• long-range visioning documents/blueprints/goals and objectives
• local plans (comprehensive, neighborhood, regional; housing, transportation, economic development; energy, climate change; water supply management)
• development management tools (zoning regulations, subdivision regulations, design guidelines)
• public investment tools (capital improvements program, general fund, financial revitalization tools)
• local policies
• built development projects

Help us learn what communities have already accomplished in integrating hazard mitigation into planning. Please send information (documents or links to web-based materials) to jschwab@planning.org.