Pitt County board adopts Neuse River Basin regional hazard mitigation plan update; staff to pursue FEMA mitigation grants

The Pitt County Board of Commissioners accepted a regional Neuse River Basin hazard mitigation plan update and authorized county staff to pursue FEMA mitigation grants to implement priority projects, county planning staff said at the Aug. 4 meeting.

"Our recommendation tonight is to approve the resolution to adopt this regional hazard mitigation plan," Jonas Hill, assistant county manager, told the board during the agenda item on the Neuse River Basin Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan Update.

The multi-jurisdictional plan — developed with adjoining counties and several municipalities — identifies hazards such as dam failure, drought, excessive heat, flooding, hurricanes and tropical storms, tornadoes, severe winter weather and wildfires. It sets mitigation categories including prevention, property protection, natural resource protection, emergency services, structural projects, and public information and outreach.

Hill said the plan documents changes in vulnerability, updates inventories, incorporates new data, and recommends priorities including maintaining a two-foot freeboard requirement for development in flood hazard areas, preserving FEMA elevation certificates for structures, and seeking grant funding for repetitive-loss properties. The planning board recommended adoption at its July 16 meeting.

County staff said the plan supports implementation of a county effort to site and build a new special medical needs shelter for residents who require medical assistance during disasters. The lab-conducted "floodprint" report presented later in the meeting (see separate article) recommended placing a special medical needs facility near Welcome Middle School to serve vulnerable populations north of the Tar River.

Commissioners moved, seconded and voted to adopt the plan; the clerk recorded the vote without a roll-call tally in the public transcript. Staff will now use the adopted plan to apply for FEMA hazard mitigation program funds and to align capital projects outside flood hazard areas.

Questions at the meeting included requests for presentation materials and copies of the plan; staff said the plan (about 765 pages) is available on the county website and in the county manager's office.