By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer
(Feb. 25, 2021) The Berlin mayor and Town Council agreed on Monday to adopt the 2020 Worcester County Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Plan to remain eligible for funding from several sources, such as the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“Funding is available for pre-disaster and post-disaster mitigation projects as well as recovery and reconstruction,” said Billy Birch, Worcester County’s emergency services director.
Billy Birch
The funds are not available without an approved plan, he added.
The 2020 Worcester County Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Plan is a five-year plan required by FEMA and MEMA.
“This was an update from the 2014 plan. It was not a total new plan from start,” Birch said.
He added that the Emergency Services Department intends to keep the plan current to “ease the five-year update burden process.”
“Therefore, it’s essential that we keep this document as a living document, and we update it as needed, so that it addresses any known hazards in the future,” Birch said.
Each town in the county is provided a section, and Berlin has been focused on addressing resiliency issues in the hazard mitigation plan.
“The Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Plan seeks to eliminate or reduce hazardous-related human economic and environmental losses. This plan is written by and for Worcester County,” Birch said. “This plan includes unincorporated areas in Worcester County and the towns of Berlin, Pocomoke, Snow Hill … Ocean City’s included in the plan, however, mayor and council, they actually do their own separate plan.”
Dave Engelhart
Dave Engelhart, the town’s planning director, said Ocean City is large enough with its staffing and resources to create their own plan and address issues like coastal flooding. Berlin has more nuisance flooding concerns driven by rain and snow.
Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood clarified the difference between a mitigation plan and a resilience plan.
“This is a mitigation plan, and a mitigation plan is to help prepare, if you will, to minimize losses versus a resilience plan, which is basically a plan that’s put together dealing with the capacity to recover, or in laymen’s terms, how fast can you spring back?” Fleetwood said.
Engelhart added that Berlin has adopted this county mitigation plan in the past.
“We need to stay in the hunt for grant funding so that we can continue our work we have with stormwater, and that’s been our major issue as far as being involved with the hazard mitigation plan,” he said.
Responding to Councilman Jack Orris, Birch said adopting the plan does not commit the town to anything. It simply identifies any current or future hazards.
If the town did not adopt the 2020 Worcester County Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Plan, it would have to create its own at a significant cost.
“It’s a lengthy process. It takes about a year, and that’s if everything goes correctly,” Birch said.
In addition, Fleetwood said when FEMA and MEMA visit a site after a disaster, one of the first questions the agencies ask is if the town has a hazard mitigation plan.
Prior to the Town Council meeting, Orris discussed with Birch and Fleetwood a correction about national flood insurance policy statistics. The table chart in the hazard mitigation plan stated that Berlin has 90 policies in-force, but actually it has 69 policies in-force with a total written premium in-force of $34,692 and total coverage of roughly $19.3 million.
“We are going to be updating our plan. We have a master file and that is going to be an amendment, an attachment to our plan moving forward with that new, updated information,” Birch told the councilmembers.
Responding to Councilman Jay Knerr, Engelhart said Berlin has adopted the latest versions of the international building code and the international residential code from 2018.
“Some of our communities within Berlin are responsible for their own stormwater ponds. Are they eligible for FEMA funding on their own, or do they have to apply through a municipality like Berlin?” Knerr asked if they have flooding in their homeowner associations (HOA).
Jeff Fleetwood
Fleetwood replied that he will research that and follow up with the councilmembers.
Knerr also inquired about the difference of tiers for the stormwater projects in the mitigation plan. With uncertainty among the presenters, Mayor Zackery Tyndall asked Birch to research that as well as the stormwater funding for homeowner associations through FEMA and MEMA.
Orris made a motion to adopt the plan and Knerr made a second to the motion. The council unanimously approved the adoption of the plan.