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CC - CONSENT ITEM: Adoption of a Resolution Adopting a Five-Year Update to the Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan as the City’s Hazard Mitigation Plan.
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Meeting Date: August 12, 2024
Contact Person/Dept.: Joe Susca, Public Works-Administration
Phone Number: (310) 253-5636
Fiscal Impact: Yes [ ] No [X] General Fund: Yes [ ] No [X]
Attachments: Yes [X] No [ ]
Public Notification: E-Mail: Meetings and Agendas - City Council (08/07/2024); Culver City Unified School District (07/17/2024); Michael Baker International (07/17/2024)
Department Approval: Yanni Demitri, Public Works Director/City Engineer (07/19/2024)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council adopt a Resolution adopting a five-year update to the Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan as the City’s Hazard Mitigation Plan.
BACKGROUND
The National Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 established requirements for programs and projects to minimize the loss of life, property and the total cost of natural disasters. The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program (PDMP) provide grants to states and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures prior to and after major disaster declarations. The purpose of the HMGP and PDMP is to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented prior to and during the immediate recovery from a disaster. To be eligible to receive funding for Hazard Mitigation and Pre-Disaster Mitigation projects, the City is required to have a California Office of Emergency Services (OES) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved Multiple Jurisdiction Hazard Mitigation Plan (MJHMP) in place.
Culver City’s Hazards and their Mitigation
The City is susceptible to many types of natural hazards. Damage from hazards can be reduced through careful planning, program implementation and infrastructure improvements. Implementation of the MJHMP minimizes potential loss of life and injury caused by hazards and preserves the City’s economic welfare by reducing potential property loss, damage to infrastructure, and social dislocation and economic disruption resulting from hazards.
Earthquakes are the most pervasive hazard to the City as they are impossible to predict and are associated with other hazards such as liquefaction and fires. Mitigation actions include securing tall furniture to walls, conducting workshops to educate the public on earthquake preparedness to reduce their impacts, creating a citywide soft story inventory, and performing seismic assessments of private and public facilities to determine vulnerabilities and where recommended, implement seismic retrofits.
Other hazards identified in the MJHMP include flooding, pandemics, wildfires, drought, excessive heat and landslides. Mitigation actions contained in the MJHMP in response to these hazards include identification of alternative bus routes, evacuation plans, regularly testing and updating existing backup power supplies at critical facilities, educating the public on how to reduce the threat and impacts of various hazards, identifying and avoiding development in certain areas identified as the most vulnerable to hazards, continued cooperation with the American Red Cross to ensure emergency evacuation shelters identified remain equipped and ready to serve the community in an emergency, regularly testing mechanisms and exercising emergency response activities with local utilities, regularly training staff on disaster response, and continuing to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.
In July 2014, the City, in conjunction with the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD), applied for funding from the HMGP to hire a firm to develop the first MJHMP. In December 2014, the City received notification that the grant was awarded, and after completion of a competitive bidding process, on March 23, 2015, the City Council approved a $100,430 agreement with Michael Baker International (MBI) to prepare the MJHMP. On April 11, 2017, the City Council adopted a Resolution accepting the MJHMP as the City’s Hazard Mitigation Plan, which was subsequently approved by FEMA on June 1, 2017.
Since adoption of the MJHMP, the City has implemented several of its mitigation measures, including creation of a citywide soft story inventory of its built environment. The soft story inventory was used to prepare an ordinance that was adopted in 2022 containing regulations requiring property owners to retrofit these vulnerable buildings within seven years to reduce the impacts that seismic events will have upon them. The soft story inventory contains 400 buildings that are required to be retrofitted, and so far, 12 of them have applied for building permits to do so. The average cost to retrofit a building is $45,000 to $135,000, depending on its size and existing configuration. Property owners may be eligible to obtain a loan from the California Capital Access Program to offset the cost of retrofitting. In 2024, the City’s Building Safety Division applied for a $348,750 FEMA grant to develop a pilot program designed to offset a property owner’s cost to seismically retrofit their building. If granted, the City would be required to provide a 25% match amounting to $116,250 for a grand total of $465,000 to implement the pilot program.
DISCUSSION:
FEMA requires the MJHMP to be updated every five years for the City/CCUSD to remain eligible to receive disaster relief funding and to submit grant applications to implement its pre-disaster mitigation projects (the “Plan Update”). Staff reached out to the CCUSD and confirmed their desire to partner with the City once again to prepare the required Plan Update.
In 2020, the City applied for, and received, a $261,600 HMGP FEMA grant to prepare a Plan Update. Through a competitive bidding process, the City Council approved an agreement with Blue Ocean to prepare the first of a two-phased Plan Update to create detailed plans and cost estimates to build large cisterns beneath several City/CCUSD parks and school playgrounds that are designed to capture stormwater, partially treat, and reuse the gray water to irrigate the expansive landscaping located just above them. These projects will reduce the impact of droughts by creating a source of gray water to irrigate with, reduce flooding by capturing heavy stormwater flows, and reduce the spread of wildfires by keeping the landscape hydrated.
After completing a competitive bidding process, the City Council approved an agreement with Michael Baker International (MBI) at a cost of $76,130 to prepare the second (and final) phase of the Plan Update.
Steering Committee:
A Plan Update Steering Committee was formed comprised of 35 members from the City/CCUSD, utilities, and large employers including Southern California Hospital at Culver City, Sony, Amazon Studios, West Los Angeles College, Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas, Golden State Water, the American Red Cross, the City and County of Los Angeles, and the cities of West Hollywood and Santa Monica. With MBI’s guidance, the Steering Committee met through a series of workshops to identify natural hazards and to assess their risk. Together, the team developed mitigation actions designed to reduce their impacts to the community.
Community Outreach:
Public outreach is a required component when developing a Plan Update. The outreach strategy included a community survey and attendance at two City-sponsored special events. A final draft of the Plan Update was completed and posted on the City’s website and community members were invited to review and comment on its content.
OES and FEMA have approved the Plan Update, conditioned upon the CCUSD Board and the City Council adopting Resolutions to accept the Plan Update as their Hazard Mitigation Plan.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
There is no cost associated with adopting the Resolution to accept the Plan Update as the City’s Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Adoption of the Plan Update will maintain the City’s eligibility to apply for future FEMA grants to cover up to 75% of the cost to implement the mitigation measures contained in the Plan.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. 2024-08-12CC-ATT-Resolution Adopting Hazard Mitigation Plan Update
2. 2024-08-12CC-ATT-Hazard Mitigation Plan Update
MOTION:
That the City Council:
Adopt a Resolution adopting the 5-Year Plan Update to the Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan as the City’s Hazard Mitigation Plan.