Town of Stowe, Vermont Local Hazard Mitigation Plan 2016 – 2021 Technical Assistance Provided by: Lamoille County Planning Commission FEMA Approval Pending Adoption ________________ FEMA Formal Approval _______________________ Selectboard Adopted ____________________ Plan Expires _________________________ Town of Stowe Local Hazard Mitigation Plan 2016 – 2021 1. Introduction 2 1.1 Purpose 2 1.2 Planning Process 3 1.3 FEMA Review and Plan Adoption 7 1.4 Plan Maintenance Process and Methods for Evaluating the Plan 7 2. Community Background 9 2.1 Previous Natural Disasters 11 3. Stowe Hazard Inventory / Risk Assessment 13 3.1 Stowe HI/RA Matrix 13 3.2 Community Vulnerability Analysis by Hazard 15 3.3 Significant Hazards 16 3.4 Moderate Hazards 25 3.5 Other Hazards 30 3.6 Climate Change Considerations 32 3.7 Secondary Effects of Significant Hazards 33 4. Mitigation Goals 34 4.1 Town of Stowe Hazard Mitigation Goals 34 4.2 Planning and Development Guidelines Supporting Hazard Mitigation 34 5. Mitigation Strategies 35 5.1 Completion of Past Mitigation Actions and Changes in Mitigation Strategies/Priorities 35 5.2 Existing Hazard Mitigation Programs, Projects and Activities 36 5.3 Identified Hazard Mitigation Programs, Projects and Activities 39 5.4 Priority Hazard Mitigation Actions 41 6. Appendices 42 6.1 Appendix A. Stowe Action Evaluation and Prioritization Matrix 6.2 Appendix B. Mitigation Projects Town Prioritization 6.3 Appendix C. Additional Tables 6.4 Appendix D: Resolution for Plan Adoption 6.5 Appendix E: Supporting Hazard Mitigation Maps 1 Stowe Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2016 1. Introduction This planning document is designed to serve as a single jurisdiction comprehensive Local Hazard Mitigation Plan for the Town of Stowe, Vermont to provide guidance in addressing the impacts of local hazards. The plan has been reviewed, amended and updated in its entirety to reflect changes in development, progress in local mitigation efforts, and changes in priorities since the adoption of the original plan in 2006. The impact of expected, but unpredictable, natural and human-caused events can be reduced through community planning. The goal of this plan is to provide all-hazards local mitigation strategies that make Stowe more disaster resistant. Hazard mitigation is defined as any sustained action that reduces or eliminates long-term risk to lives and property, resulting from the effects of natural and human-caused hazards. Based on the results of previous FEMA Project Impact efforts, FEMA, state, regional and local agencies have come to recognize that it is less expensive to prevent disasters, than to repeatedly repair damage after a disaster has struck. This plan recognizes that communities have opportunities to identify mitigation strategies and measures during each phase of Emergency Management– Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Mitigation. Hazards cannot be eliminated, but it is possible to identify existing local hazards, where they are most severe, and what local actions can be taken to reduce the severity of incidents. Hazard mitigation strategies and measures alter the hazard by eliminating or reducing the probability of occurrence, avert the hazard by redirecting the impact by means of a structure or land treatment, adapt to the hazard by modifying structures or standards, or avoid the hazard by prohibiting or limiting development and could include projects such as: Flood-proofing structures; Tying down propane/fuel tanks in flood-prone areas; Elevating furnaces and water heaters ; Identifying and modifying high traffic incident locations and routes; Ensuring adequate water supply; Elevating structures or utilities above flood levels; Identifying and upgrading undersized culverts; Proactive land use planning for floodplains and other flood-prone or erosion-prone areas; Proper road maintenance and construction; Ensuring critical facilities are safely located; Buyout and relocation of structures in harm’s way; Establishing and enforcing appropriate building codes; Dissemination of public information. 1.1 Purpose The purpose of this Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) is to assist the Town of Stowe to identify all hazards facing the community and develop strategies to begin reducing risks from these identified hazards. 2 Stowe Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2016 1.2 Planning Process Stowe’s LHMP was originally developed as an annex to the Lamoille County Regional All- Hazards Mitigation Plan in 2005. Since the adoption of this plan in 2006, staff from the Lamoille County Planning Commission (LCPC) and the town remained involved in the plan maintenance process through communication and support in the regular Local Emergency Planning Committee 11 (LEPC) meetings, participation in emergency response trainings and exercises, and actual hazard/disaster response and post event evaluation(s). In 2009, LCPC conducted a formal review of the Stowe LHMP and coordinated with the Stowe Emergency Management Director (EMD) to discuss the plan, assess changes in development trends, update progress in local mitigation efforts, and adjust mitigation priorities accordingly. Pre-Disaster Mitigation meetings were focused on gathering community information and generating an inventory of the Town’s vulnerability to hazards and its current and future hazard mitigation programs, projects and activities. In 2010, Stowe’s EMD and Town Manager worked with LCPC to update the plan, including: the addition of mitigation goals and strategies from the updated Town Plan; evaluating progress made on goals and strategies in the previous local hazard mitigation plan; as well as updates to the town’s recent hazard history. In the wake of unprecedented flooding that impacted Vermont in the spring and late-summer of 2011, Stowe again reviewed and updated its hazard mitigation plan, while working closely with the State Hazard Mitigation Officer and FEMA Region 1. The Annex was revised and updated in 2012 with FEMA approval received in 2014. In December of 2011, the Lamoille County Planning Commission reached out to Lamoille towns to solicit interest in developing single jurisdiction Local Hazard Mitigation Plans. LCPC worked with the Northwest Regional Planning Commission as a sub-recipient grantee to develop a Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant application to assist towns in transitioning to single jurisdiction plans. The Town of Stowe expressed an interest and was included in the application. In fiscal year 2012, the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security awarded the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant. During 2013, LCPC staff assisted the Town of Stowe in transitioning their current plan to a stand-alone Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. Significant data updates took place at this time. Since fall 2011, revised drafts of the Stowe LHMP have remained posted on the LCPC website to invite public comment. Copies of the LHMP were made available to interested residents at LCPC’s offices in Morrisville and in the Stowe Town Clerk’s office. Stakeholders potentially impacted by the single jurisdiction Stowe Local Hazard Mitigation Plan include, but are not limited to the following: Stowe Fire Department Chief Stowe Police Chief Stowe EMS Provider Stowe Mountain Rescue Chief Stowe Public Works Director Stowe Emergency Management Director Stowe Town Manager Stowe Planning Director Stowe Selectborad Chair Stowe Road Foreman/Superintendent 3 Stowe Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2016 Stowe Electric Department Morrisville Water and Light Department Vermont Electric Cooperative Stowe Mountain Resort Emergency Response Team Smugglers’ Notch Resort Public Safety Department Neighboring Selectboard chairs, Morristown, Elmore, Worcester, Waterbury, Bolton, Underhill, Cambridge, Middlesex Neighboring Emergency Management Directors, Cambridge, Elmore, Morristown, Bolton, Underhill, Waterbury, Worcester, Middlesex Neighboring Road Foremen/Road Commissioners On October 16, 2014 Stowe Town officials, including the Director of Planning, Public Works Director, and Emergency Management Director, met with LCPC staff to review recent updates to the plan, address how mitigation priorities have changed since the last plan update, and revise mitigation strategies to include a more comprehensive priority list of mitigation action items. To allow for additional opportunities for public comments, the meeting agenda was posted in the Stowe Town Clerk’s office, on the municipal website, and in LCPC’s office in Morrisville. Additional public comment opportunities were provided during and proceeding the November 24, 2014 Stowe Selectboard Meeting. The November, 2014 Selectboard Meeting was well attended by Selectboard members, representatives from the Public Works Department, the Stowe Planning Commission and Conservation Commission, and interested community members. The agenda for the meeting noticing the review of the single jurisdiction, Stowe Local Hazard Mitigation Plan was posted at the Stowe Town Clerk’s Office, the Stowe municipal website and LCPC’s website. Stowe officials and community members were encouraged to provide feedback on the drafted Stowe Local Hazard Mitigation Plan at the Selectboard Meeting, and proceeding the meeting by submitting comments via email to LCPC staff working with Stowe Town officials to develop the single jurisdiction plan. The latest draft of the plan remained posted on LCPC’s website to continue to solicit public input after the November, 2014 Selectboard Meeting. Additional public input was received from Selectboard members, the Town Manager,