Plan Adoption
Upon completion, copies of the Draft Local Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Town of Monson were distributed to the town boards for their review and comment. A public meeting was held by the Monson Hazard Mitigation Committee to present the draft copy of the Monson Local Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan to town officials and residents and to request comments from this committee and the general public. The Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan was formally approved by the Select Board and forwarded to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for their approval.
Plan Implementation
The implementation of the Monson Local Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan will begin following its formal adoption by the Monson Select Board and approval by MEMA and FEMA. Those town departments and boards responsible for ensuring the development of policies, bylaw revisions, and programs as described in Section 5 and 6 of this plan will be notified of their responsibilities immediately following approval. The Monson Natural Hazards Planning Committee will oversee the implementation of the plan.
Incorporation with Other Planning Documents
Existing plans, studies, reports and technical information were reviewed and incorporated throughout the planning process. This included significant information from the following key documents:
-
Monson Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (particularly the Critical Infrastructure Section) – the Critical Infrastructure section was used to identify those infrastructure components in Monson that have been identified as crucial to the function of the Town; also, this resource was used to identify special needs populations as well as potential emergency shortcomings.
-
Monson Open Space and Recreation Plan – this Plan was used to identify the natural context within which the Monson mitigation planning would take place. This proved useful insofar as it identified water bodies, rivers, streams, infrastructure components (i.e. water and sewer, or the lack thereof), as well as population trends. This was incorporated to ensure that the town’s mitigation efforts would be sensitive to the surrounding environment. During the OSRP update, Monson can use the work of the PDM Plan to incorporate identified hazard areas into open space and recreation planning. This could either take the form of acquiring parcels of land that are currently un-developed, but situated within an identified hazard area, as permanent open space, thereby minimizing the likelihood that critical infrastructure components will be constructed in an area prone to damage from natural hazards.
-
Monson Community Development Plan—this Plan was used to identify any action items that might prove successful, based on previous planning efforts.
-
Monson Zoning Bylaw/Ordinance - The Town’s Zoning Bylaw was used to gather and identify those actions that the Town is already taking that are reducing the potential impacts of a natural hazard (i.e. floodplain regulations) to avoid duplicating existing successful efforts.
-
Draft Massachusetts Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan - This plan was used to ensure that the Town’s Hazard Mitigation Plan is consistent with the State’s Plan.
-
Mass Highway culvert and bridge surveys supplemented by local knowledge.
Plan Monitoring and Evaluation
The measure of success of the Monson Local Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan will be the number of identified mitigation strategies implemented. In order for the town to become more disaster resilient and better equipped to respond to natural disasters, there must be a coordinated effort between elected officials, appointed bodies, town employees, regional and state agencies involved in disaster mitigation, and the general public.
The Monson Natural Hazards Planning Committee will meet on an annual basis in September of each of the following years: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and as needed (i.e., following a natural disaster). The public will be notified of these meetings in advance through a posting of the agenda in Town Hall. In addition, responsible parties identified for specific mitigation actions on the schedule below will be asked to submit their reports in advance of the meetings. The meetings of the committee will be organized and facilitated by the Emergency Management Director or the Monson Select Board.
Meetings will entail the following actions:
-
Review events of the year to discuss and evaluate major issues, effectiveness of current mitigation, and possible mitigation for future events.
-
Review and evaluate progress toward implementation of the current mitigation plan based on reports from responsible parties.
-
Amend current plan to improve mitigation practices.
Following these discussions, it is anticipated that the committee may decide to reassign the roles and responsibilities for implementing mitigation strategies to different town departments and/or revise the goals and objectives contained in the plan. The committee will review and update the Monson Local Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan every five years. The first updated plan will be submitted to MEMA and FEMA in the fall of 2015.
CERTIFICATE OF ADOPTION
TOWN OF Monson, Massachusetts
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE Monson
HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN UPDATE
WHEREAS, the Town of Monson established a Committee to prepare the Monson Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan Update; and
WHEREAS, several public planning meetings were held between ____ and ____ 2016 regarding the development and review of the Monson Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan Update; and
WHEREAS, the Monson Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan Update contains several potential future projects to mitigate hazard damage in the Town of Monson, and
WHEREAS, a duly-noticed public hearing was held by the Monson Board of Selectmen on __________, 2016 to formally approve and adopt the Monson Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan Update.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Monson Board of Selectmen adopts the Monson Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan Update.
ADOPTED AND SIGNED this _________, 2016.
___________________________________________________
Edward S. Harrison, Chair, Monson Board of Selectmen
___________________________________________________
Kathleen C. Norbut, Monson Board of Selectmen
___________________________________________________
Richard E. Guertin, Monson Board of Selectmen
ATTEST
Share with your friends: |