New plans and five-year updates for counties, cities, towns, school districts, and special districts, written to 44 CFR 201.6 and FEMA’s Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide. We carry the risk assessment, the mitigation strategy, the public process, state and FEMA review, and adoption by every participating jurisdiction.
A FEMA-approved local mitigation plan is the condition for receiving Hazard Mitigation Assistance project grants. When a declaration opens Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding, the jurisdictions that can apply are the ones whose plans are current. The ones whose plans lapsed spend the application window trying to get approved.
Most searches for this work are about updates, not new plans. Approval lasts five years, and an update is not a reprint. FEMA expects to see what changed: new hazard events and data, development since the last plan, the status of every prior mitigation action, and a refreshed project list.
Multi-jurisdictional plans add a second problem. Each city, school district, and special district that wants eligibility has to participate, have its own risks and actions documented, and adopt the plan. Plans fail review when smaller participants are a line in an appendix.
Send the jurisdiction’s name. We will check the approval date against public FEMA records and tell you plainly whether you need a new plan, an update, or nothing yet. No cost and no obligation.
Delivered directly to the lead jurisdiction or as a subcontractor to the planning prime.
A complete plan for a jurisdiction that has never had one or whose plan lapsed long ago: planning team, kickoff, risk assessment, capability assessment, mitigation strategy, maintenance procedures, public involvement, state and FEMA review, and adoption.
Bringing an expiring or expired plan current, with a documented change analysis the reviewer can follow: new events and hazard data, development and land-use changes, progress on prior actions, and a refreshed project list.
County-led plans with cities, towns, school districts and special districts. Participation tracking, jurisdiction-specific risk and action sections, and an adoption schedule for every governing body.
Hazard profiles for flood, severe storm, tornado, wildfire, drought, winter storm, extreme heat, earthquake and dam failure where applicable, with vulnerability and loss estimates for critical facilities, schools, utilities and housing.
Goals, a capability assessment, and a prioritized action list where each action carries a lead agency, a cost range, a timeline and a funding path, so projects can move into a grant subapplication without being rewritten.
Planning and project subapplications under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and Flood Mitigation Assistance, scope and cost development, and benefit-cost analysis inputs built on credible loss figures.
Integration with comprehensive plans, capital improvement programs and floodplain ordinances, plus facilitation of the annual review so the plan does not go quiet until year four. Plans can be structured to support Community Rating System credit.
A new plan typically takes nine to eighteen months and an update six to twelve, depending on the number of participating jurisdictions, meeting calendars, and state and FEMA review time.
Kickoff, planning team, participating jurisdictions, data request, and review of the existing plan.
Hazard profiles, asset inventory, vulnerability analysis, and loss estimation for each jurisdiction.
Capability assessment, goals, action development, prioritization, and funding paths.
Public comment, state review, FEMA review, revisions, and approvable-pending-adoption status.
Adoption by every participant, FEMA approval, and setup of the annual maintenance cycle.
A risk assessment is a loss estimate, and a mitigation action only survives benefit-cost analysis if the avoided loss is credible. Plans here are directed by Chris Chambers, an Executive General Adjuster with more than 25 years of catastrophe and large-loss experience, who holds FEMA IS-318.b Mitigation Planning for Local and Tribal Communities and IS-393 Introduction to Hazard Mitigation among 45 completed FEMA Independent Study courses.
For planning primes, the firm is a Native American owned small business with Indian Economic Enterprise and small disadvantaged business standing, available to subcontract on NAICS 541620 planning task orders.
| NAICS | Description | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 541620 | Environmental Consulting Services | Primary here |
| 541611 | Administrative and General Management Consulting Services | Secondary |
| 541690 | Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services | Secondary |
Tribal governments plan under 44 CFR 201.7 and a different review guide. See tribal hazard mitigation planning.
Reviewers score plans against these documents, so it is worth reading the primary sources.
Federal mitigation program status changes without notice. Our FEMA program status page summarizes where things stand.
Yes, if it wants to receive FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance project funding. Under 44 CFR 201.6, a local government must have a FEMA-approved local mitigation plan to receive project grants through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the other mitigation programs. Planning grants themselves are the exception.
Every five years. Approval expires at the five-year mark, and eligibility for mitigation project funding lapses with it. Because an update runs through public involvement, state review, FEMA review and local adoption, the work should start at least a year before expiration.
A single plan covering several jurisdictions, usually a county with its cities, towns, school districts and special districts. It spreads the cost, but every jurisdiction that wants eligibility has to participate in the planning process, have its own risks and actions identified, and formally adopt the plan.
The State Hazard Mitigation Officer reviews the draft first and forwards it to the FEMA regional office. FEMA can find the plan approvable pending adoption, after which each jurisdiction adopts it and FEMA issues approval.
In most cases yes. Mitigation planning is an eligible activity under FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance, and a portion of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding after a declaration can go to planning. Many communities fund plan development and updates through a planning subapplication rather than the general fund.
It can. Communities in the NFIP Community Rating System can earn credit for floodplain management planning, and a well-built hazard mitigation plan can be structured to meet those planning steps.
Send the jurisdiction’s name and we will check the FEMA approval date, then tell you whether you need a new plan, an update, or nothing yet.
Okla Risk Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. The firm does not act as a public adjuster and does not represent policyholders. The firm is not affiliated with or endorsed by FEMA, DHS, SBA, BIA, IHS, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, or any other government or tribal government. Indian Economic Enterprise status is self-certified under the Buy Indian Act and the SBA 8(a) application is pending. Read the full disclosures.