Coventry adopts 2024 hazard mitigation and floodplain plan; boosts third‑party inspection proposal

The Coventry Town Council voted unanimously to adopt the town’s updated 2024 Hazard Mitigation and Floodplain Management Plan, a FEMA‑driven update that identifies hazards, inventories critical facilities, and prioritizes projects the town can pursue for funding.

Laura Young of Fairweather Science presented the plan and told the council the update added riverine erosion to Coventry’s hazard list and prioritized 35 proposed mitigation actions (15 high, 5 medium and 15 low). She said the plan documents stakeholder engagement, public meetings and a project survey used to prioritize actions.

Responding to public comment from Cheryl Kane, Young said the planning team proposes changing action #32 — which "explore[s] the potential for including third party inspections as part of the development inspection process and within town construction projects when appropriate to reduce risk and improve engineering" — from low to high priority. "The project team lead agrees with that, so that is something that we are proposing to change, in the final plan," Young said.

The adoption resolution (2024‑73) will allow the town to submit the plan to state reviewers and FEMA; Young said state reviewers attended the public meeting and that completing and submitting the plan by the Oct. 1 deadline makes Coventry eligible for mitigation grant funding. The council voted 4–0 to adopt the plan.

The plan lists responsible departments, time frames, potential funding sources (including FEMA programs) and notes that FEMA typically requires a cost‑benefit analysis for projects that will seek grant funding.