Title
Approval of a Resolution Adopting the Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Thurston Region and the Olympia Annex
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to approve a Resolution adopting the Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Thurston Region and the Olympia Annex.
Report
Issue:
Whether to approve a Resolution adopting the Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Thurston Region and the Olympia Annex.
Staff Contact:
Susan Clark, Engineering and Planning Supervisor, Public Works, 360.753.8321
Mike Buchanan, Deputy Fire Chief, Olympia Fire Dept., 360.628.2444
Presenter:
None - Consent Calendar Item.
Background and Analysis:
Background
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) describes hazard mitigation planning as the effort to reduce loss of life and property by reducing the impact of disasters. Local governments engage in hazard mitigation planning to identify risks and vulnerabilities from natural disasters and to develop long-term strategies for protecting people and property from future hazard events.
Communities must have a FEMA approved and locally adopted hazard mitigation plan in place and continue to update it every five (5) years to maintain eligibility for federal mitigation assistance programs, including:
• Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC)
• Flood Mitigation Assistance
• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
• HMGP-Post Fire
• Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program
The City of Olympia’s Drinking Water Utility has been awarded an approximately $1.2M HMGP grant to install seismic valves on the McAllister Wellfield Transmission line pending approval of the 4th Edition Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Thurston Region (Regional Plan) and Olympia Annex. Additionally, the City of Olympia’s Wastewater Utility is interested in pursuing an approximately $6M BRIC funding opportunity for relocating the Percival Utility Bridge sewer main. In order to submit the application, the Regional Plan and Olympia Annex must be approved by February 29, 2024.
Local Hazard Mitigation Planning
The Regional Plan was developed through a multi-jurisdictional process to create a mitigation strategy aimed at reducing risks from hazards that may impact the region. The Regional Plan specifically addresses communities and special districts within Thurston County and includes a regional risk assessment and regional mitigation goals, objectives, and initiatives. This regional cooperative approach was led by the Thurston Regional Planning Council.
The Olympia Annex to the Regional Plan describes Olympia’s mitigation planning process and expands upon the regional plan by identifying unique characteristics of the City, detailing the City’s risks for all appropriate hazards, cataloging the City’s past, current, and proposed mitigation initiatives, and documenting the City’s participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. An internal Olympia Annex Update Team consisting of the City’s emergency management coordinator and representatives from the Public Works Department and the City’s Climate Program, with assistance from Community Planning and Development and the City’s Emergency Management Committee, participated in the update process.
Natural Hazards Risk Ratings
As a component of the regional hazard mitigation planning process, risk ratings for each of the nine natural hazards that are most likely to impact Thurston County were developed. Risk ratings are derived from a hazard’s probability of occurring multiplied by the sum of its potential impact on people, property, and the economy. The higher the probability of occurrence and impacts, the higher the risk score. Olympia’s risk ratings are as follows:
• Dam Failure: Not Applicable
• Earthquake
o Cascadia Magnitude 9.3: High
o Nisqually Magnitude 7.2: Medium
o Seattle Magnitude 7.2: Medium
• Flood Hazard: Low
• Landslide: Medium
• Sea Level Rise (6-inches): Medium
• Severe Weather: Medium
• Tsunami: Low
• Volcanic Lahar: Low
• Wildfire: Low
For the first time, FEMA requires hazards mitigation plans to include at least one project designed to mitigate the impact of all hazards most likely to impact a community. Such projects are called mitigation initiatives.
Mitigation Initiatives
Taken together, the Regional Plan and the Olympia Annex include 26 mitigation initiatives that could be undertaken in the future depending upon funding, direction and need. Some mitigation initiatives cover a single hazard while others cover multiple hazards.
The Regional and Olympia-specific Mitigation Initiatives are as follows:
Regional
• Regional Hazard Mitigation Public Outreach Strategy
• Community Wildfire Protection Plan
• Extreme Heat Incident Response and Illness Prevention Plan
• Ongoing Hazard Mitigation Planning Workgroup Coordination
• Evacuation Route Planning for Catastrophic Dam Failure and Volcanic Lahar
• Countywide Emergency Shelter Capacity and Operational Assessment
• Develop a Regional Transportation Resiliency Plan
• Hazard Modeling and Loss Estimation Capacity Building
• Critical Infrastructure Inventory
• Countywide Landslide Hazards Mapping
• Critical Asset Management System
• Olympia Sea Level Rise Response Plan Implementation
Olympia-specific
• Conduct Seismic Assessments and Complete Retrofit of Critical Facilities and Infrastructure
• Construct a new Maintenance Center
• Designate McAllister Wellfield as a Sole Source Aquifer
• Assess and Install Seismic Valves on the McAllister Wellfield Transmission Main
• Replacement of the Sewer and Water Mains Located on the Percival Creek Utility Bridge
• Add Backup Generators to Critical Facilities
• Replace the Existing Overhead Utility Lines Throughout the City of Olympia
• Continue to Plan, Identify, and Implement Strategies to Mitigate the Adverse Effects of Sea Level Rise
• Add infrastructure to Facilitate Multiple Radio Channels for the Public Works Department
• Develop and Adopt a Climate Resilience Plan
• Develop a Resilience Hub Strategy
• Design and Construct Stormwater Conveyance Systems
• Protect Heritage Park and Downtown Corridor from Seasonal Flooding
Regional Hazards Mitigation Goals and Policies
The Thurston Region’s (and Olympia’s) mitigation strategy consists of regional and jurisdiction projects and activities - the mitigation initiatives - as well as nine goals and 34 policies contained in the Regional Plan. Every regional and jurisdiction specific mitigation initiative is tied to one or more of the policies.
The following nine goals guide hazard mitigation decision making and investments:
Goal 1: Protect Life
Goal 2: Protect Infrastructure
Goal 3: Protect Property
Goal 4: Protect the Environment
Goal 5: Sustain the Economy
Goal 6: Build Community Support
Goal 7: Expand Understanding of Hazards
Goal 8: Implement Effective Mitigation Strategies
Goal 9: Increase Public Awareness
The Regional Plan’s 34 policies can be found in Chapter 2 of the Regional Plan.
Approval Process
Prior to local adoption, jurisdictions must first submit their hazards mitigation plans to the Washington State Emergency Management Division (State) and FEMA.
State review of the Regional Plan and Olympia Annex has occurred with no review comments provided.
FEMA may either issue an “approvable pending adoption” hazard mitigation plan status, with final approval by FEMA occurring after local jurisdiction adoption, or FEMA may require changes before a plan can move to “approvable pending adoption” status.
On January 23, 2024, the Thurston Regional Planning Council received notification that the Regional Plan was returned by FEMA for required revisions to thoroughly address the new planning requirement calling for at least one mitigation initiative for each identified hazard. No other changes were required and jurisdictions such as Olympia with pending BRIC funding applications were advised to not delay local adoption of the Regional Plan and relevant annex.
The Regional Plan has been updated to address FEMA’s comments as generally explained below.
• To address FEMA’s concerns, the Regional Plan has been revised to further strengthen the relationship between the Regional Plan and the annexes in the following way:
o Language in Chapter 2 was updated to clarify that a participant’s adopted mitigation strategy consists of both the regional initiatives and their jurisdiction specific initiatives.
• To address possible ambiguities in the Regional Plan multi-hazard mitigation initiatives the following revisions were made:
o Regional initiative descriptions were updated to clarify which hazard risks the action principally addresses.
The Olympia Annex has been revised and dated January 2024 to address FEMA’s requirements by strengthening language to stress that Olympia’s hazards mitigation strategy consists of both the Regional Plan Mitigation Initiatives and the Olympia-specific Mitigation Initiatives.
The revised Regional Plan and Olympia Annex have been resubmitted to FEMA for final approval consideration.
Next Steps
The State and FEMA will be notified of the City of Olympia’s adoption of the Regional Plan (including proposed revisions) and Olympia Annex. By adopting the Regional Plan and Olympia Annex, and receiving final FEMA approval, Olympia will once again be eligible to apply for federal disaster funding.
By approving the Regional Plan and Olympia Annex, the City commits to foster plan implementation through plan monitoring and plan maintenance, including:
• Performing an annual review of the regional and jurisdictional actions to document progress.
• Conducting a mid-cycle evaluation to summarize the plan’s progress.
• Convening a post-disaster after-action review within 45-60 days after a federal disaster declaration or major hazard event that activates the Thurston County Emergency Coordination Center.
Finally, the City will use the Regional Plan and particularly the Olympia Annex, as background material during the Comprehensive Plan update process (known as Olympia 2045) currently occurring and expects future updates of the Olympia Annex to be influenced by the City’s current efforts to conduct a Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment.
Climate Analysis:
Hazards mitigation planning provides a framework for communities to alleviate the impacts of natural hazards. Some of these hazards, such as severe weather, are expected to increase in frequency and severity due to the impacts from climate change. The probability of others increasing in frequency or severity, such as earthquakes, will not be impacted by climate change. Regardless of whether or not climate change increases the probability of a natural hazard occurring, the regional and Olympia-specific mitigation strategy contained in the Regional Plan and Olympia Annex will improve the region’s ability to coordinate hazard mitigation planning, assess risks, respond to natural hazards and protect community assets.
Equity Analysis:
The Regional Plan and Olympia Annex recognize that socially vulnerable individuals typically suffer the greatest in natural disasters because they lack the resources to protect themselves and their property from the impacts of hazards. The Regional Plan’s Goal 1: Protect Life and Policy 1B: Prioritize mitigation actions that directly benefit underserved communities and special needs populations were implemented during the mitigation initiative ranking process through the inclusion of a social vulnerability ranking criteria. Policy 1B will continue to guide future hazards mitigation planning decisions.
FEMA has developed an online tool - the National Risk Index - which allows communities to compare the relative level of a community’s social vulnerability compared to other communities. The National Risk Index also includes a community resilience score and rating which represents the relative level of a community’s resilience to other communities. A risk index score is the third component of information provided in the National Risk Index, which considers expected annual loss due to natural hazards, a community’s social vulnerability score, and a community’s community resilience score. Olympia’s ratings are included in the Olympia Annex and will be considered as hazards mitigation planning decisions are made.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
To inform the hazard mitigation plan update process, a Thurston County Communities Natural Hazard and Resiliency Survey, available in several languages, was released from June 6 to July 31, 2022. The survey was taken by 668 individuals, with 187 respondents from the City of Olympia. Olympia residents were most concerned about climate change and earthquakes with extreme heat following close behind.
To seek input on the proposed Regional and Olympia-specific Mitigation Initiatives, a virtual “open house” was available from July 21 through August 25, 2023. The top three Olympia-specific Mitigation Initiatives from this survey are as follows: 1) Add Backup Generator to Critical Facilities; 2) Develop a Resilience Hub Strategy; 3) Develop and Adopt a Climate Resilience Plan.
Financial Impact:
A federally approved hazard mitigation plan offers communities access to several grant programs. The City of Olympia’s Drinking Water Utility has been awarded an approximately $1.2M grant to install seismic valves on the McAllister Wellfield Transmission line, pending approval of the Regional Plan and Olympia Annex. Additionally, the City of Olympia’s Wastewater Utility is interested in pursuing an approximately $6M BRIC funding opportunity for relocating the Percival Utility Bridge sewer main.
Hazard mitigation and risk management planning preserves revenues that are needed for other essential public services and investments. According to the National Institute of Building Sciences “Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2019” report, every dollar in federal grants that is invested in mitigation can save up to six dollars.
Options:
1. Approve the Resolution adopting the Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Thurston Region and the Olympia Annex. This will demonstrate the City of Olympia’s commitment to participate in plan implementation activities. Approval by February 29, 2024 demonstrates the City of Olympia’s commitment to participate in plan implementation activities and to meeting the Building Resilient Communities and Infrastructure grant submittal requirements.
2. Do not approve a Resolution adopting the Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Thurston Region and Olympia Annex. This will make the City of Olympia ineligible to apply for a Building Resilient Communities and Infrastructure grant this funding cycle and may jeopardize funding for the Drinking Water Utility’s seismic valve placement project.
3. Take other action.
Attachments:
Resolution
Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan - Olympia Annex
Link to Thurston Region Hazards Mitigation Plan - Full Plan