San Clemente to send updated local hazard mitigation plan to council; staff seeks USFS grant for wildfire plan

City emergency management staff reported that San Clemente’s updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) has completed state and federal review and will be presented to the City Council for adoption at the March 4 meeting.

A staff member said Cal OES and FEMA reviewed the updated LHMP and provided no comments, and that adoption would make the city eligible for pre- and post-disaster funding. The presenter also said the city has moved forward with a grant application to the U.S. Forest Service that could provide up to $250,000 to develop a Community Wildfire Protection Plan and wildfire risk assessments for neighborhoods and homeowners associations.

Staff explained the wildfire plan would include a community wildfire risk assessment that neighborhoods and HOAs could use to pursue Firewise USA designations; Seapoint Estates was identified as the city’s only current Firewise community. The city noted that Firewise designations are neighborhood-level and require community participation, and that each Firewise community typically contains between about 8 and 2,500 homes.

Staff said the USFS grant application closes March 14 and that, if awarded, the wildfire-plan work would require hiring a consultant; the effort was described as likely taking about a year to 18 months and being more rigorous than the LHMP. The presenter emphasized the grant-funded wildfire risk assessment could proceed without council adoption of the LHMP, enabling earlier technical work to support HOAs.

No formal action was taken by the committee; staff said the plan will go to council for adoption next week and that they will report back on grant outcomes and consultant procurement.