ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – The Bayshore Emergency Management Association (BEMA) will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, to review the draft Monmouth County Multi-jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan.
The plan is a documented evaluation of the hazards to which a community is susceptible and the extent to which these events may occur.
The meeting will be held at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Building, 100 First Ave.
The public is invited to review the plan and make pertinent comments.
The session will be hosted by the Bayshore Emergency Management Association, a consortium of Emergency Managers from Aberdeen, Atlantic Highlands, Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport, Middletown, Union Beach, and Sea Bright.
The plan includes a hazard mitigation strategy which is designed to reduce and eliminate risks to people and property from natural hazard events. In addition, it identifies an area’s vulnerability to the effects of natural hazards and the goals, objectives and actions required to minimize future loss. The need for mitigation strategies has become more essential due to the increase in natural hazard occurrences.
The draft plan is posted to www.monmouthsheriff.org and can be found under the OEM tab, for a 28-day review and public comment period.
Public comments can be sent to oemmitigation@mcsonj.org until Nov. 18. As part of the process, the draft plan will be submitted to New Jersey OEM and FEMA for review.
The current Hazard Mitigation Plan was adopted by Monmouth County and the municipalities in 2009. Under FEMA guidelines it is required to be updated every five years. Monmouth County has taken the lead on the overall planning process to guide the fifty-three municipalities in an effort to meet the FEMA requirements and therefore be able to officially adopt the plan.
Once applicable comments are compiled into the plan and the draft is approved by those two agencies, each municipality will be required to formally adopt the plan. They will then continue to be eligible for pre and post disaster mitigation grant funding.
