Smithfield council adopts Cape Fear regional hazard mitigation plan

The Town of Smithfield council voted to adopt resolution "7 96" to join the Cape Fear Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan, a regional update consultant Peyton Campbell said is required every five years to preserve eligibility for federal hazard‑mitigation grant programs.

Campbell, who said she represented AECOM and assisted with the plan update, told the council the update documents hazards and vulnerabilities across the planning area, incorporates public and stakeholder input and lists mitigation actions jurisdictions can pursue when applying for FEMA funding. "Every five years you are required to update the mitigation plan to maintain federal grant eligibility for flood mitigation assistance, hazard mitigation grant program assistance, [and other programs]," Campbell said during her presentation.

The consultant summarized the plan's public outreach process — an online feedback form, a public meeting and a stakeholder survey — and described the plan's core sections: a community profile, hazard identification, risk and vulnerability assessments, and a mitigation action strategy broken down by jurisdiction. Campbell pointed to maps in section 5 showing the special flood hazard area for the Town of Smithfield and noted the plan's risk assessment uses sources such as the FEMA National Risk Index and the American Community Survey.

Campbell also reviewed example findings used to prioritize actions, including county‑level data on manufactured‑home prevalence (she cited percentages for Chatham, Harnett, Johnston, Lee and Moore counties) and said the plan includes both natural hazards and certain manmade hazards that FEMA does not formally review. She told the council the draft was submitted to the North Carolina Emergency Management office in October and to FEMA on Dec. 2, and that the plan's formal expiration date (listed in the draft as Feb. 23) was intended to read Feb. 23, 2026; jurisdictions that do not adopt the updated plan risk losing eligibility for the federal funding streams named in the plan.

After the presentation, an unidentified council member moved to adopt the resolution; the motion was seconded and carried by voice vote. The adoption means Smithfield is formally listed as a participating jurisdiction in the Cape Fear Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan and may seek mitigation grants for projects included in its jurisdictional action list.

The plan's next practical step is local implementation of mitigation actions and continued coordination with NCEM and FEMA; the council was told jurisdictions that do not adopt the update will not be eligible for the listed FEMA mitigation funding.

(Provance: topic introduced SEG 068; presentation and discussion SEG 072–SEG 578; motion and vote SEG 628–SEG 639.)