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2014 Town of Shelburne Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

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2014 TOWN OF SHELBURNE LOCAL MULTI-HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN Adopted July 28, 2014 Prepared by: The Shelburne Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee Rick Bardwell, Chief, Shelburne Falls Fire Department John Taylor, Chief, Shelburne Fire Department Steve Walker, Chief, Shelburne Police Department Chris Myers, Emergency Management Director Robert Manners, Vice-Chair, Shelburne Select Board Matthew Marchese, Chair, Shelburne Planning Board Deborah Vincent-Coutinho, Chair, Shelburne Board of Health Terry Mosher, Shelburne Town Administrator Mary Vilbon, Executive Director, Shelburne Falls Area Business Association and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments Peggy Sloan, Director of Planning & Development Kimberly Noake MacPhee, P.G., Land Use and Natural Resources Program Manager Alyssa Larose, Land Use Planner Ryan Clary, Senior GIS Specialist This project was funded by a grant received from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Table of Contents 1 - INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................3 Hazard Mitigation..........................................................................................3 Planning Process............................................................................................3 Plan Updates and Changes ............................................................................5 2 – LOCAL PROFILE..................................................................................................7 Community Setting........................................................................................7 Infrastructure .................................................................................................8 Natural Resources..........................................................................................9 Cultural and Historic Resources..................................................................10 Community Facilities and Resources ..........................................................12 3 – HAZARD IDENTIFICATION & ANALYSIS...................................................14 Hazard Identification...................................................................................14 Vulnerability Assessment............................................................................48 Hazard Analysis Methodology....................................................................77 Development Trends Analysis ....................................................................82 4 –MITIGATION STRATEGIES..............................................................................86 Current Mitigation Strategies ......................................................................86 Future Mitigation Strategies......................................................................125 National Flood Insurance Program Compliance .......................................136 5 – PLAN ADOPTION & IMPLEMENTATION..................................................139 Plan Adoption............................................................................................139 Plan Maintenance Process.........................................................................139 APPENDICES ...........................................................................................................145 Appendix A: Shelburne zoning bylaws and Subdivision Rules and Regulations................................................................................................145 Appendix B: Meeting Agendas, Sign In Sheets, Correspondence & Publicity.....................................................................................................150 Appendix C: Shelburne Select Board Approval Memorandum………....158 Cover photo: Shelburne Falls and the Deerfield River, the day after Tropical Storm Irene, August 2011. Courtesy of the Town of Greenfield. 1 - INTRODUCTION HAZARD MITIGATION The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) define Hazard Mitigation as any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from natural hazards such as flooding, storms, high winds, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters. Mitigation efforts undertaken by communities will help to minimize damage to buildings and infrastructure, such as water supplies, sewers, and utility transmission lines, as well as natural, cultural and historic resources. Planning efforts, like the one undertaken by the Town of Shelburne’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), make mitigation a proactive process. Pre-disaster planning emphasizes actions that can be taken before a natural disaster occurs. Future property damage and loss of life can be reduced or prevented by a mitigation program that addresses the unique geography, demography, economy, and land use of a community within the context of each of the specific potential natural hazards that may threaten a community. Preparing a Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan before a disaster occurs can save the community money and will facilitate post-disaster funding. Costly repairs or replacement of buildings and infrastructure, as well as the high cost of providing emergency services and rescue/recovery operations, can be avoided or significantly lessened if a community implements the mitigation measures detailed in the Plan. Many disaster assistance agencies and programs, including FEMA, require that a community adopt a pre-disaster mitigation plan as a condition for both mitigation funding and disaster relief funding. For example, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMA) and the Community Rating System (CRS), are programs with this requirement. PLANNING PROCESS The multi-hazard mitigation planning process for the Town of Shelburne included the following tasks: Review of the Shelburne 2005 Local Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, assessment of relevancy of existing materials, status of action items and addition of new materials based upon MEMA recommendations and Committee input. Identifying the hazards that may impact the community, and past occurrences of hazards at the local or regional level. Conducting a Vulnerability/Risk Assessment to identify the infrastructure (i.e., critical facilities, public buildings, roads, homes, businesses, etc.) at the highest risk for being damaged by the identified hazards, particularly flooding. Town of Shelburne Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan Page 3 Identifying and assessing the policies, programs, and regulations Shelburne is currently implementing to protect against future disaster damages. Examples of such strategies include: o Preventing or limiting development in natural hazard areas like floodplains, wetlands, drinking water recharge areas, and conservation land; o Implementing recommendations in existing planning documents including Community Development Plans, Master Plans, Open Space and Recreation Plans, and Emergency/Evacuation Plans that address the impacts of hazards; and o Requiring or encouraging the use of specific structural requirements for new buildings such as buried utilities, flood-proofed structures, and lightning grounding systems. o Identifying deficiencies in the current mitigation strategies and establishing goals for updating, revising or adopting new strategies. o Identifying specific projects that will mitigate the risk to public safety and damages to infrastructure from hazards. o Adopting and implementing the final Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. The planning process for the Town of Shelburne also incorporated the following procedures: Providing an opportunity for the public to comment on the plan during the drafting and prior to the approval of the plan. Two public meetings were held by the committee on March 20, 2012, and May 29, 2012 at Memorial Hall, 51 Bridge Street, Shelburne. The meetings were posted on the Town website, and press releases were sent to The Recorder newspaper and the Shelburne Falls and West County Independent newspaper. A flyer was emailed to Town boards, committees, and departments prior to the meetings, and posted in Memorial Hall. Meeting agendas, sign-in sheets, and publicity materials are located in the Appendix. Following each meeting, the plan was revised to reflect input and comments from the meetings. The final draft of the plan was posted on the Town website for public review in June 2012. Providing an opportunity for neighboring communities, local and regional agencies involved in hazard mitigation activities and agencies that have the authority to regulate development, and businesses, academia and other private and nonprofit organizations to be involved in the planning process by publicizing the planning process. In addition to press releases in local newspapers and a flyer posted at Memorial Hall, the Shelburne Falls Area Business Association was contacted and invited to attend meetings, and to encourage business members to attend meetings and participate in the plan update. Email correspondence is located in the Appendix. Reviewing and incorporating, if appropriate, information from existing plans, studies, reports and technical information. Plans reviewed and incorporated in part include: o 2010 Shelburne Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan o 2004 Shelburne Open Space and Recreation Plan o 2010 Buckland Open Space and Recreation Plan (for information on shared services
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