All Hazards Mitigation Plan at forefront of town’s concerns

NORTH EAST — The Town Board briefly discussed the All Hazards Mitigation Plan at its workshop meeting last Thursday, June 4. The subject came up after it had received a draft plan from the town of Dover, which has been acting as  liaison for the project.

Nine municipalities are involved, including the towns of Amenia, Beekman, Dover, Milan, North East, Pawling and Pine Plains and the villages of Pawling and Millerton. According to the plan’s adoption resolution, they have “developed this multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan to identify hazards that threaten their jurisdictions and ways to reduce future damages associated with these hazards.â€

Dover sent the draft plan to North East via the Internet, as a PDF (Portable Document Format), to post and invite feedback. Town Supervisor Dave Sherman told his board he was going to print the document out and distribute it, until he realized it was 318 pages long. He then advised the councilmen to view it online at townofdover.us; he also offered to make CD ROM copies. CDs will also be available for public viewing at the library and at Town Hall. A copy of the draft was also sent to the State Emergency Management Offices (SEMO) for comments.

The document’s executive summary explains why such a plan is necessary.

“Natural disasters occur each day, as they have for thousands of years. As the world’s population and development have increased, so have the effects of these natural disasters,†the draft plan states. “The time and money required to recover from these events often strain or exhaust local resources. The purpose of hazard mitigation planning is to identify policies, actions and tools for implementation that will, over time, work to reduce risk and the potential for future losses.â€

The Harlem Valley has faced such hazards before. One example is flooding. In 2005 and 2007 the town of Dover saw major flooding and suffered severe damage because of it. A state of emergency was declared. Due to such events the Northern and Eastern Dutchess County Communities Regional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan received grant funds from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to develop the proposed all hazards mitigation plan. The plan represents the collective efforts of the nine participating jurisdictions, the public and other stakeholders.

The executive summary lists the hazards that can potentially affect this area; they were studied in detail in the plan. They are described as follows:

• Atmospheric hazards, including extreme temperatures, extreme wind, hurricanes and tropical storms, lightning, nor’easters, tornadoes and winter storms

• Hydrologic hazards, including dam failure, drought, flooding, storm surge and wave action

• Geologic hazards, including earthquakes and landslides

• Other hazards, including wildfires

The draft plan is currently under review by SEMO, FEMA, the All Hazards Mitigation Plan’s Planning Committee, the public and other stakeholders. Comments will be incorporated in due time and participating municipalities will then formally adopt the final plan. Members of the public are invited to pose questions or make comments by contacting their town supervisors, mayors or Dover Councilwoman Katie Palmer-House at  kphouse@townofdover.us.