Town Council gets Update on Hazard Mitigation Plan

By Adam Swift

Town officials and the regional planning council are expected to finish a draft of an updated hazard mitigation plan for Winthrop later this summer. At last week’s town council meeting, Martin Pillsbury from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) updated the council on the progress on the plan. A hazard mitigation plan focuses on efforts to help prevent natural disasters and events, such as flooding, storms, extreme heat, droughts, and earthquakes, according to Pillsbury.

The plan is separate from the town’s emergency management plan, which can also include manmade disasters and focuses on the response to emergencies. “It is part of a national program under FEMA,” said Pillsbury. “The goal is that every city and town have an emergency management plan.” While there is no penalty for not having a hazard mitigation plan, Pillsbury said there is the incentive of possible FEMA grants when there is a plan in place. Winthrop’s hazard mitigation plan was last updated about a decade ago. “Hazard mitigation includes activities that would reduce the impact of natural hazards through strategies including projects, programs, and policies,” said Pillsbury.

“They are not response plans, they do not tell you what to do during an event. You have an (emergency management plan) already.” Pillsbury said hazard mitigation is an umbrella term that includes prevention, property protection, public education and outreach, and structural and infrastructure projects. Pillsbury said the biggest issues facing Winthrop include flooding and storm surge, but added that the plan looks at all potential natural hazards. The plan maps the areas of concern in the town.

The local flood hazard areas included in the plan include Yirrell Beach, the Shirley Street neighborhood, Lewis Lake, the Somerset seawall and headwall, Cottage Park seawall, Sargent Street seawall, Woodside seawall, Coughlin Park, the Bayou Street neighborhood, Ingleside Park, Lower Nahant Avenue, Pico Avenue, Morton Street, Washington Street, and Pleasant Street at Girdlestone.

The plan also maps all the critical infrastructure facilities in town, including police and fire stations, the public works facilities, schools, daycares, elderly housing, and other town buildings and infrastructure, Pillsbury said. “We understand what the hazards are, we understand what your critical facilities are, what’s at risk, and what is vulnerable,” he added. The next step for MAPC and the local officials on the hazard mitigation team is to to update the recommendations from the 2015 plan. The draft plan will be developed over the next month, according to Pillsbury, with an opportunity for public input at a second meeting later this summer.

Once the plan is completed, it will be forwarded to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and then FEMA for any additional feedback or questions before final approval. Councilor Max Tassinari said he would like to see something about a microgrid system in the plan which would help power essential town facilities in the event of power loss during a natural disaster.

Councilor John DaRos, who chairs the council’s climate resiliency committee, said he would like to see a member of his committee involved with the hazard mitigation plan committee, since much of what his committee is working on directly relates to the plan.

Councilor Joseph Aiello noted that Winthrop is essentially a peninsula, and that during extreme storm surge events, the roads in and out of the town can become flooded. Pillsbury noted that those roadways should be classified as critical facilities in the hazard mitigation plan.