MERI

Bergen County Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan & GIS Support

Participants: MERI, Land Use Management, Bergen County OEM

The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 mandated that all jurisdictions develop comprehensive mitigation plans to be eligible for hazard mitigation funding following a presidentially declared disaster. Preparation of a Hazard Mitigation plan is important to the 70 municipalities of Bergen County. In the absence of such a plan approved by FEMA, federal mitigation funding for natural disasters such as flooding is not readily available. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (formerly NJMC) assisted in the completion of a Bergen County Hazard Mitigation Plan in 2006/2007 and is now aiding in updating the plan in 2013.

Strategy:

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) in cooperation with the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management (BCOEM) and all municipal OEMs will aid in the development of the Bergen County Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan. Data including the location of critical facilities as well as their vulnerability to various hazards will be submitted by each town and combined with data from the state and the NJSEA GIS Department in order to support the mapping/analysis aspects of the plan. The NJSEA and BCOEM welcome public comments regarding potential projects that should be evaluated for inclusion in any of the 70 Bergen County municipalities at any time during the planning process.

Activities:

  • Collect and process data from towns within Bergen County
  • Download and process updated data from NJDEP and other outside sources
  • Identify new data to include in the updated plan based on changes that have occurred within the county since the release of the last plan
  • Update existing maps and create new maps

Deliverables:

  • An updated version of the approximately 150 maps that have been created so for in support of this project as well as the creation of any additional maps deemed necessary for this update
  • The completion of an updated Hazard Mitigation Plan for Bergen County that is recognized by FEMA