City Committee Set to Review Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, Required to Receive Federal Aid

The City Council’s Public Safety Committee will deliberate Wednesday on a draft resolution that will recognize the City of Pasadena Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP), which the City is required to prepare and adopt in order to receive federal funding from the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.

The draft resolution will be submitted for adoption by the City Council before the end of January.

Pasadena’s LHMP was approved by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Ca OES) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Once the draft resolution is adopted by the City Council, the LHMP will be integrated into the safety element of the General Plan, according to a report prepared by the Pasadena Fire Department.

The Pasadena LHMP was developed in accordance with the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA2000), which helps fund projects in local governments that are not dependent on a presidential disaster declaration and streamlines the administration of disaster relief. It incorporates a process where hazards are identified and profiled, people and facilities at risk are analyzed, and mitigation actions are developed to reduce or eliminate hazard risk.

The LHMP was adopted and approved by the Pasadena City Council and received final approval from FEMA. The Cal OES and FEMA recently included new language allowing for compliance with Assembly Bill No. 2140, a state incentive that allows California counties and cities to adopt their current LHMPs into the Safety Element of their General Plans.

According to the Fire Department’s report, when the City Council adopts the current draft resolution, Pasadena would be eligible for additional recovery or part or all of its local-share costs on eligible public assistance funding provided by the state through the California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA). The CDAA allows the state to pay up to 18.75 percent of the non-federal share that would otherwise fall upon the county or city to pay for Public Assistance projects.

Upon adoption of the draft resolution, the City will submit a copy to the California Office of Emergency Services and FEMA Region IX officials to enable the plan’s final approval in accordance with the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and to establish conformance with the requirement of AB 2140, the Fire Department said.

The Public Safety Committee meeting will be in person in the Council Chamber, Room S249 starting at 4 p.m. and is open for public participation.

It will also be accessible online through http://pasadena.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=9 and www.pasadenamedia.org.