Description

1) Home Improvement: Lessons Learned from the Local Jurisdiction Perspective
Mary Baker, JEO Consulting Group, mbaker@jeo.com
Co-presenters: None

Abstract: Mitigating against future flood damages, in and near the Special Flood Hazard Area, only matters as much as it is effective in protecting lives and preserving property and critical infrastructure. FEMA says disasters begin and end at the local level, and so do mitigation projects. But who executes these projects? Likely a local city or village “official” who has no training or experience with federal funding or grant management. An individual who likely has a passion to help their community but is ill-prepared to champion these meaningful projects through to the end. Sadly, the federal systems are becoming more complex and extremely difficult to navigate. Just completing an application for grant funding requires hoop jumping, benefit cost analysis computations, and research that most local officials don’t have time, energy, or the expertise to complete. But there is hope for those who want to venture into the world of mitigation grant funding. In this presentation we will review the lessons learned from several different non-structural mitigation projects, ranging from home elevations, filling basements, & relocation of utilities to property acquisitions and the relocation of entire communities. These projects will focus on riverine flooding and some of the best practices for mitigating personal homes, as well as look at how to prepare local officials for what they will need to know to navigate the bureaucratic byways of federal grant funding. If the local community officials cannot negotiate the project from start to finish, it will likely not happen at all. This presentation will give attendees the compass and maps to help communities embark into the unchartered territory of home mitigation success stories. And thereby enable more local champions to bring their home-

2) Don’t Rain On My Parade: Weathering the Development of a BRIC Grant Narrative
Brian Kempf, CFM, AICP, NYC Emergency Management, bkempf@oem.nyc.gov
Co-presenters: Lauren Dozier, lauren.dozier@hagertyconsulting.com

Abstract: A shovel-ready BRIC subapplication developed from an awarded Pre-Disaster Mitigation Advance Assistance project. Proposed climate adaptive, green infrastructure improvements to a deeply impoverished community. An innovative drainage project built on years of community planning, outreach, and best practices research. A benefit-cost analysis based on sophisticated hydraulic modeling that showed benefits that were multiple times the project costs. There was just one small piece missing: a grant narrative. In Fall 2021, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection partnered with the NYC Housing Authority and NYC Emergency Management to develop what seemed like a straightforward project subapplication to build rainwater detention into park facilities at the NYCHA Clinton Houses campus in East Harlem. All of the ingredients were there to create a perfect subapplication—yet the project (now Identified for Further Review) faced the critical challenge of putting the pieces together to make a strong subapplication. NYC Emergency Management and Hagerty Consulting will use the saga of the East Harlem Cloudburst project as a lesson to teach prospective subapplicants how to craft a subapplication using effective grant writing that speaks directly to BRIC’s qualitative and technical criteria.

3) Does it Flood in the Whitespace? Zone X Flood Mitigation Challenges and Solutions
Joseph Kirby, Woodard & Curran, jkirby@woodardcurran.com
Co-presenters: Kathryn Hogan, khogan@woodardcurran.com

Abstract: Zone X flood mitigation presents a unique challenge and requires detailed analyses and creative solutions to achieve successful mitigation. Working in the Zone X (unshaded) areas of the FIRM, flooding is less consolidated and typically slower moving, less deep, and in urban areas, often impacting many residential structures. Zone X flood risks have historically been less understood, studied, and mitigated. Even where communities have programs actively working to mitigate Zone X flooding, the underlying problems of capacity, drainage system deterioration, and climate change are not always addressed. This presentation will discuss how we approach flood mitigation in these areas and what we have found can be done for successful flood reductions. First an understanding that no solution will entirely eliminate flooding, the goal must be to reduce the frequency, depth, and/or duration of flooding and identify improvements (large or small) that can have a cumulative positive impact in the community. Second this type of flooding requires a comprehensive analysis, typically basin wide, to evaluate the movement of water across the natural and built environment so we understand the how, what, where and when flooding occurs. Finally, innovative, creative, fiscally responsible, and maybe most important politically possible solutions that can be implemented to reduce flooding. Discussion includes our experiences working in these zones, community programs implemented to mitigate flood, some of the challenges and successes experienced analyzing and building solutions, and a range of lessons learned that can help all communities better adapt to flood risks outside the traditional floodplain.