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Ordinance Committee backs sending regional hazard-mitigation plan to full council for adoption
Summary
Planning staff said Lawrence is the lead community on a 10-city Merrimack Valley regional hazard mitigation plan required by FEMA; the committee voted to forward the plan to the full council with a favorable recommendation to order a public hearing.
Planning staff and a city official described the Merrimack Valley Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan update, a multi-jurisdictional project required by FEMA that Lawrence led with a grant and coordination through the Merrimack Valley Regional Planning Commission.
The planning presenter described the five-year review process, an inventory of critical community lifelines (hospitals, schools, day cares, public safety facilities), and a mitigation action plan designed to prioritize projects that reduce vulnerability to flooding, snowstorms and other natural hazards. The plan, the presenter said, helps the city meet FEMA requirements that are necessary to qualify for mitigation grants and post-disaster funding.
Committee members asked about the city’s highest risks and how the plan would translate into projects. City staff said snowstorms are most frequent, while flooding causes the highest long-term cost; staff described prior grant-funded projects and pump construction, previous tear-downs and park creation in chronically flooded neighborhoods, and ongoing DPW efforts such as new granite curbing and rain gardens in public projects. The committee voted to forward the regional hazard mitigation plan to the full council with a favorable recommendation to order a public hearing.
