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Middletown council approves sending draft regional hazard mitigation plan to state and FEMA for review
Summary
The Town Council voted to send the draft regional hazard mitigation plan, prepared with consultant VHB and the regional committee, to the state emergency management agency and FEMA for review so the plan can qualify the town for federal mitigation funding.
The Town Council on March 17 voted to send a draft regional hazard mitigation plan to the state emergency management agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for review. The plan was presented by Paige Myatt, director of climate resilience, on behalf of the regional hazard mitigation planning committee and consultant VHB.
The plan combines hazard-mitigation work for all three island municipalities to coordinate projects, reduce duplication and increase competitiveness for grants such as FEMA funding programs. Myatt told the council the regional approach followed a Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant awarded in December 2023 and that the committee began work with consultant VHB in April 2024. The plan uses public survey results (more than 100 responses), three community workshops and an inventory of prior municipal mitigation actions.
At the regional level, the draft includes 10 regional mitigation actions, including regional emergency operations and sheltering capacity. Middletown-specific material identifies 18 municipal actions tied to nine community assets — examples cited include replacing culverts and pump stations and prioritizing residents who rely on electric health devices during outages. Myatt said six actions from the town’s 2019 plan were completed and the remainder were carried forward or reclassified as ongoing.
Next steps described by staff call for the council to permit the draft to be submitted for state and federal review, with edits made after agency comments and an expected FEMA ‘‘approval pending adoption’’ letter in the fall; staff said a review period could take up to six months. The council moved and approved a motion to send the draft plan to the state and FEMA; the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Council discussion noted the funding benefit of having an approved plan in place before a disaster, which improves eligibility for FEMA mitigation grants. No substantive amendments to the draft were requested at the meeting.
