The Burlington County Office of Emergency Management has started the process of updating the Hazard Mitigation Plan for the county and all 40 municipalities.
The plan is required by the federal government and State of New Jerey for Burlington County and local communities to remain eligible for mitigation funding to reduce risk and improve communities resiliency to various types of disasters.
The plan focuses on buildings, infrastructure and critical facilities, plus future development that could be impacted. Ultimately, the plan will seek to identify mitigation projects that reduce vulnerabilities and help communities become more resilient.
To date, the County has completed a risk assessment identifying hazards that could impact Burlington County and its municipalities and their potential consequences, including the potential losses that could result from each type of hazard. The County and its municipalities are now starting to develop a hazard mitigation strategy. As part of that process, the County and towns will identify hazard mitigation goals and potential actions to reduce potential losses.
The process will involve several upcoming public meetings during the next several weeks. They include:
- A Steering Committee meeting will be held to review the risk assessment virtually on Tuesday, October 24, at 10 AM. The meeting can be accessed here https://msteams.link/R5KR.
- A Planning Partnership meeting will be held to review the risk assessment in-person at the Burlington County Emergency Services Training Center (53 Academy Road, Westampton) on Monday, October 30, at 9 AM
- A Mitigation Strategy Workshop will be held to identify problem areas in each municipality and begin formulating mitigation actions. This meeting will be held in-person at the Burlington County Emergency Services Training Center (53 Academy Road, Westampton, New Jersey 08060) on Monday, October 30, at 10 AM.
- A public meeting will be held to review the risk assessment via Teams on Thursday, November 9, at 7 PM. The meeting can be accessed here https://msteams.link/4H0W.
Burlington County residents and stakeholders can also contribute to the planning process by completing a survey designed to gather information from around the county to help inform on decisions about activities and the risk reduction. The questions are for information-gathering only and the responses will be shared for planning purposes only.
To participate, visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BurlingtonPublicSurvey
To learn more about the Burlington County Hazard Mitigation Plan, go to the Burlington County website at https://burlingtoncountynjhmp.com/.