HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Hazards Goal 7 Plan - Code Review Project
MEMORANDUM
DATE: December 19, 2014
TO: Board of County Commissioners
FROM: Nick Lelack, Community Development Director
MEETING: December 29, 2014
RE: Natural Hazards Goal 7 Plan & Code Review Project
The purpose of this work session is to update the Board on the Community Development Department’s
contracting with the University of Oregon’s Community Service Center (UO CSC) to:
Review and evaluate the County’s Comprehensive Plan Natural Hazards element (Section 3.5) as stated
in Policy 3.5.1(a): Review this Section of the Comprehensive Plan every five years;
Ensure consistency between the Comprehensive Plan and the Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (NHMP)
Update; and,
Review and analyze County Code per Comprehensive Plan Policies 3.5.4 and 3.5.11.
Please find attached the Scope of Work and budget. CDD is initiating this project at this time for the
following reasons:
1. Completion date for NHMP. The NHMP Update is mostly completed at this point and will be forwarded
to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for review in early 2015. The County’s
Comprehensive Plan “adopts by reference the most recent Deschutes County Natural Hazards Plan.”
The timing is perfect to evaluate the County’s Natural Hazards element (“Goal 7 Program”) to ensure
consistency with the NHMP Update.
2. Funding. The UO CSC is using County (CDD) dollars to match FEMA dollars (a grant requirement) on this
project at a roughly 1:1 match. The federal funds will be used to pay for a graduate research fellow and
the Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience program director that will be working on the project and
guiding the Community Planning Workshop graduate student team. If the FEMA grant dollars are not
spent on this project this fiscal year, they will be redirected towards other activities, most likely outside
Deschutes County. Future funding may or may not be available.
3. Timing. The timing to initiate this project is based on the completion date of the NHMP Update,
upcoming 5-year review of the County’s Goal 7 Program goals and policies, FEMA funding, and staffing
(discussed below).
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4. Staffing. This is related to completion of the NHMP Update—if the project begins in January 2015, the
same internal UO CSC team (Michael Howard, Drew Pfefferlie, Josh Bruce, and Robert Parker) working
on the NHMP Update will also lead this project along with a 4-5 graduate student team contributing
two terms of service to this project. UO CSC cannot guarantee that the same team will work on this if
the project starts later in 2015 or in a future year. In addition, minimal CDD staffing resources are
required to manage this project.
COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER
1209 University of Oregon | Eugene, Oregon 97403 | T: 541.346.3889 | F: 541.346.2040 http://csc.uoregon.edu
An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act
EXHIBIT A
SCOPE OF WORK:
DESCHUTES COUNTY
NATURAL HAZARDS GOAL 7 PLAN AND CODE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Deschutes County updated the Natural Hazards element of its Comprehensive Plan in 2011.
Section 3.5 of the Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan establishes County policy with
respect to natural hazards. The comprehensive plan cross -references the Natural Hazards
Mitigation Plan (NHMP) as well as Deschutes County Community Wildfire Protection Plans
(CWPPs). Policy 3.5.1 specifically addresses maintenance of the Goal 7 Comprehensive Plan
Element as well as the NHMP and CWPP:
Adopt by reference the most recent Deschutes County Natural Hazards
Mitigation Plan into this Plan.
a) Review and evaluate this Section of the Comprehensive Plan every five
years.
b) Adopt by reference Community Wildfire Protection Plans and revisions
into this Plan.
In summary, Policy 3.5.1 clearly articulates the County’s commitment to address natural
hazards and establishes mechanisms for coordinating the Comprehensive Plan with the NHMP
and CWPPs.
The Community Service Center (CSC) has partial funding through a Federal Emergency
Management Agency Pre-Disaster Mitigation 2012 Subgrant1 to update the Deschutes County
NHMP.2 The NHMP is a non-regulatory action plan that specifies strategies the County will
implement to reduce risk for natural disasters. Goal 7 of the Oregon statewide land use
planning program requires local governments to develop a factual base and policies that
address land use in areas prone to natural disasters.
This project will focus on assisting Deschutes County with a review and analysis of
Comprehensive Plan Section 3.5 to ensure consistency with the NHMP Update and the
following policies:
1 Grant: EMS-2012-PC-0004, Sub-grant Application Reference: PDMC-PL-10-OR-2012-002
2 CSC will use funds from a FEMA grant to support a (1) graduate research fellow and the OPDR program director as part of our
effort.
Deschutes County Natural Hazards Goal 7 Plan & Code Review December 2014 Page | 2
Policy 3.5.4. Provide incentives and if needed regulations, to manage
development in areas prone to natural hazards.
Policy 3.5.11 Review and revise County Code as needed to:
a. Ensure that land use activities do not aggravate, accelerate or increase the level
of risk from natural hazards.
b. Address wildfire concerns to and from development, through consideration of
site location, building construction and design, landscaping, defensible space,
fuel management, access and water availability.
c. Require development proposals to include an impact evaluation that reviews the
ability of the affected fire agency to maintain an appropriate level of service to
existing development and the proposed development.
d. Minimize erosion from development and ensure disturbed or exposed areas are
promptly restored to a stable, natural and/or vegetated condition using natural
materials or native plants.
e. Ensure drainage from development or alterations to historic drainage patterns
do not increase erosion on-site or on adjacent properties.
f. Make the Floodplain Zone a combining zone and explore ways to minimize and
mitigate floodplain impacts.
g. Require new subdivisions and destination resorts to achieve FireWise standards
from the beginning of the projects and maintain those standards in perpetuity.
This work program describes how the CSC team will work with Deschutes County to analyze
and evaluate strategies to address Policies 3.5.4 and 3.5.11 of the Deschutes County
Comprehensive Plan.
PROJECT APPROACH
This project is a review of the Deschutes County development code con sistent with guidance
provided in policies 3.5.4 and 3.5.11 of the Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan. The focus
of this project is to identify policy options for consideration by the Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC), Planning Commission, staff (i.e., County Forester, Community
Development Department), stakeholders and partner organizations, and potential adoption
into the development code. Thus, it is largely an applied research and policy analysis project.
The research will consistent of a literature review, identification of best practices and model
codes, and case studies of jurisdictions that have adopted policies that address the code
review. The case studies will include phone interviews with staff that are engaged in the day to
day implementation of the policies.
The CSC team will work closely with a staff working group that will consist of the Community
Development Director, Planning Manager, County Forester, Certified Floodplain Manager,
Senior Planner/Project Manager, and other invited individuals. We propose to conduct bi-
weekly check-ins with the County project manager and schedule working group meetings as
necessary. We anticipate 3 to 4 working group meetings over the course of the project.
Deschutes County Natural Hazards Goal 7 Plan & Code Review December 2014 Page | 3
The product of this project will be a report that summarizes the results of our research and
presents policy options for consideration by the BOCC and Planning Commission. While the
report may present potential code language from model ordinances and other sources, the
intent is to provide an array of options and approaches for consideration by staff and Planning
Commission and Board of County Commissioners with the strong emphasis on incentives and
non-regulatory approaches. The review and adoption of code revisions is not included as part
of our work program. The CSC team and staff work group will present preliminary findings and
recommendations to the BOCC and/or Deschutes County Planning Commission.
DESCRIPTION OF TASKS
The CSC team will include Robert Parker (CSC Director); Josh Bruce (program manager); Mike
Howard (program specialist), and Drew Pfefferle (project coordinator). The project team will
include three to five graduate students in the Masters of Community and Regional Planning
program at the University of Oregon.
Task 1 – Project Kickoff Meeting
The CSC project team will meet with the Deschutes County staff work group to discuss the
goals and objectives of the project. We will review the sequence of activities, the timeline,
and list of identified stakeholders. This meeting will be held in-person and will be combined
with the discussion of code sections for review described in Task 2.
Schedule: January – February
Meetings: One, to discuss work program and to solicit direction from County staff
regarding specific areas of the code to concentrate as described in Task 2.
Product: Meeting notes summarizing any changes to the work program
Task 2 – County Code Review and NHMP Plan Cross-Reference
The CSC team will work with County Staff to identify areas of the Deschutes County Code that
will be reviewed as part of this project. The code review will focus on improving Wildfire,
Flood, and other natural hazards that development regulations would affect. The code review
will utilize and support the comprehensive plan cross reference that will be conducted as part
of the NMHP update. CSC memorandum will summarize the code sections that will be
reviewed for this project in a memorandum to county staff.
Schedule: January - February
Meetings: None
Product: Memo that identifies code deficiencies
Task 3: Code Research
Task 3 is the core of this project. Building from the code sections identified in Task 2, CSC will
conduct research on policy options using methods described in Tasks 3.1 through 3.3 below.
Deschutes County Natural Hazards Goal 7 Plan & Code Review December 2014 Page | 4
Task 3.1 – Literature/ Best Practices Review
The CSC project team will review approaches and best practices for wildfire, flood, and other
natural hazard ordinances, as well as model codes and programs (Firewise Communities,
National Flood Insurance Program, etc.). The team will also conduct a review of applicable
journal articles, books, etc. This research will provide a foundation for Tasks 3.2 and 3.3 and
for the development of code review and revision options.
Schedule: January to March 2015
Meetings: None
Products: Appendix in final report that informs policy options
Task 3.2 – Model Ordinances
The CSC project team will review state and national model ordinances that will be identified
during Task 3.1. This review will include wildfire ordinances that focus on mitigation activities
such as defensible space, vegetation management, and identifying high fire hazard severity
zones. In addition, CSC will review model ordinances for flood hazard areas as well as other
hazard ordinances as agreed upon by the staff working group and CSC.
Schedule: January to May 2015
Meetings: None
Products: Evaluation of Model Ordinances for Wildfire and Flood
Task 3.3 – Case Studies
CSC will conduct case studies of counties in the U.S. to evaluate wildfire, flood and other
natural hazard codes and policies to support the literature and model review. We anticipate
conducting 3 to 5 case studies each of wildfire and flood ordinances (e.g., 3-5 case studies per
topic; 6-10 case studies total). The case studies will not be limited to code analysis; we will
document how the county programs work and how the development code informs and
interacts with the program. The case study communities will be determined via the literature
review and/ or informational interviews with floodplain coordinators and wildfire experts.
Schedule: January to May 2015
Meetings: None
Products: 6-10 Natural Hazard Case Studies
Task 4 – BOCC / Planning Commission Work Sessions
The CSC team will facilitate three work sessions with the BOCC and/or Planning Commission to
present potential policy options and screen options for further analysis and review . At the
initial work session, the CSC team will (1) provide an overview of the project and present
research findings from the Task 3 literature, model ordinance, and case study review. The
agendas for the following Planning Commission work sessions will be determined through
Deschutes County Natural Hazards Goal 7 Plan & Code Review December 2014 Page | 5
consultation with County staff. Our initial view is that work sessions 2 and 3 will focus on
specific policy and code options.
Schedule: March to June 2015
Meetings: Two or Three
Products: Meeting Notes
Task 5 – Draft and Final Report
The CSC team will deliver a draft of the County Code Review report to the staff work group for
review and comment. The County will deliver one set of comments to CSC within three weeks
of receiving the draft report. The CSC team will incorporate comments and edits into the final
draft. CSC will present the draft report in a work session with the Planning Commission in May
2015. Once final comments and edits have been incorporated, the team will provide a digital
version of the County Code Review and supporting data to the County. Deschutes County will
be responsible for any hard copy document production and printing.
Schedule: April to July 2015
Meetings: One if needed to review the draft report
Products: Draft and Final Reports
SCHEDULE AND BUDGET
The CSC proposes to initiate work on the project on January 5, 2015 , and complete the project
by June 30, 2015. Table 1 summarizes the project schedule.
Table 1. Proposed project schedule
Task Dates
1. Project kick-off January 5 – February 15
2. County Code review January 5 – February 15
3. Code research
3.1. Literature/best practice review
3.2. Model Ordinances
3.3. Case Studies
January 5 – March 30
January 5 – May 15
January 5 – May 15
4. Commission Work Sessions March, April, and May
5. Draft and Final Report April 1 – June 30
Table 2 presents our proposed project budget. CSC proposes to complete the work described
in Tasks 1 through 5 for a fixed fee of $16,863.
Deschutes County Natural Hazards Goal 7 Plan & Code Review December 2014 Page | 6
Table 2. Proposed project budget
Category Budget
Labor
Task 1: Project Kick-Off $600
Task 2: Code Review and NMHP Crosswalk $1,500
Task 3: Code Research
Task 3.1 Literature/Best Practices Review $1,000
Task 3.2 Model Ordinances $1,500
Task 3.3 Case Studies $1,500
Task 4: Planning Commission Work Sessions $3,000
Task 5: Draft and Final Report $2,500
Subtotal $11,600
Direct
Travel $1,127
Printing of final documents $100
Supplies for meetings $75
Subtotal $1,302
University Overhead (@ 30.7%)$3,961
TOTAL $16,863