Providence City Council adopts 2024 hazard mitigation plan to unlock FEMA grants

The Providence City Council voted to adopt a resolution approving the city's updated 2024 Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, a document city staff said is required for eligibility for federal mitigation grants including the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.

Council members took the action after a staff presentation outlining the nine-month planning process and a list of new mitigation actions. The plan update added three hazards of concern (infestation and invasive species; an expanded category of 2terrorism and active threat2; and electrification, meaning risks tied to lithium-ion batteries and increasing electric vehicle use) and incorporated expected climate change impacts across each hazard section, staff said.

City staff said the plan update was developed through four meetings of a local hazard mitigation committee that included city departments, one city council representative, members of the public and other stakeholders; the city also held four in-person and one virtual public workshop, offered in English and Spanish. The planning consultant and staff told the council that 32 people served on the local committee and that the consultant described the committee's participation as unusually robust.

Claire Caservo, identified in the meeting as the director overseeing the plan update, said the plan contains 19 new mitigation actions and several carried-over items. Caservo emphasized that listing actions in the plan does not commit the city to completing them all within five years but makes the city more competitive for federal funding to carry them out.

Among the new actions staff highlighted were creating or updating: an 2adopt-a-storm-drain2 program; a lithium-ion battery outreach campaign; upgrades to public alert sirens; a lightning warning system at city parks; a post-earthquake dam inspection process; an inventory of critical buildings; all-hazards design standards for critical building renovations; generators for critical buildings; a citywide stormwater master plan; enhanced cybersecurity plans and protocols; and a maintenance standard and regular dredging schedule for Pleasant Valley Parkway. The plan also calls for strengthening the city's tree canopy and for regular exercises of the Fox Point hurricane barrier road plates, among other items.

City staff told the council the plan was presented to and approved pending adoption by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and that local adoption by resolution is required under federal regulations for the plan to take effect and for FEMA to release or allow application for grant funds. Staff said Providence already has about $160,000 awarded that cannot be distributed until the council adopts the plan, and that the city is positioned to submit BRIC applications seeking roughly $2.3 million to $2.5 million by the stated deadline.

After the presentation and brief questions about the plan's time frame and whether the city expects to accomplish all listed actions, Councilor Neftalal moved to approve the resolution and Council member Reyes seconded. The council responded 2Aye2 and the motion carried with the mayor's panel noting a quorum of five present earlier in the meeting; the chair declared the motion approved.

The council directed staff to distribute the full digital plan to council members and to post it on the city website; staff said the plan is about 300 pages and was posted for public comment during the revision period. City staff also said state and federal partnerships and grant awards will determine which listed mitigation actions move forward and when.

The council adjourned after the vote.