Mitigation plan unlocks state, federal funding for Longboat Key

The Longboat Key Town Commission renewed its participation in a multi-jurisdictional “mitigation plan” at its Monday meeting, which makes the town eligible for state and federal funding for disaster mitigation.

The 517-page plan published on Manatee County’s website outlines the threats facing the county, existing and planned mitigation strategies and breaks down in detail the demographics of the county. 

The plan is adopted by the five Manatee municipalities and updated every five years.

Longboat Key leaders unanimously approved the resolution to renew its participation in the plan at Monday’s meeting.

The commission approved the town’s participation in the strategy without discussion as part of the consent agenda. The town has been involved in the plan continuously since 2010.

“It’s a checking of the box, I think more than anything that is really operative,” Schneier said after the meeting.

Matthew Myers, Manatee County’s chief of emergency management, said participation in the plan unlocks the potential for municipalities and the county to receive federal funding for mitigation like house and road raising, generator installation to government buildings and other hardening measures to withstand natural disasters like hurricanes.

“It’s just a formal process that says we have adopted this plan. We send that back to the state that sends it to FEMA,” Myers said. “It’s making sure our i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.”

One major potential funding source for municipalities is FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. FEMA distributes funds to municipalities with the requirement that a mitigation plan is created and adopted by that municipality. Those funds can be used for various mitigation efforts.

“There’s elevation of properties, whether that be homes or public buildings. There is elevation of evacuation routes, stormwater enhancements or hardening of buildings,” Myers said. “There are a ton of different ways that you can use mitigation dollars, but you have to have that resolution of adoption in order to even be eligible for it.”

On FEMA’s website, potential uses of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding include planning and enforcement, flood protection, retrofitting and construction, according to FEMA’s website.

“This funding becomes available following a Presidentially declared disaster,” FEMA’s website explains. “Homeowners and businesses are not eligible to apply directly for HMGP grants. However, local communities may apply for funding on their behalf.”

Hurricanes aren’t the only outlined threats to the county in the mitigation plan. Potential hazards are broken down into categories: natural, technological and human-caused. Some of those threats include sinkholes, extreme heat, sea level rise, algal blooms, airplane crashes, power outages, oil spills and cyber incidents. The mitigation plan details the risks posed by dozens of different potential hazards and lays out potential and already-implemented mitigation strategies for each of them. Myers said the threat hazards in the plan are updated every two years, giving the example of how the likelihood of pandemics has recently been updated following the coronavirus pandemic.

“LMS outlines all threats and hazards we may have in the area and some goals that as a group, manatee county as a whole, come together to identify and prioritize the risks,” Myers said.

Another advantage of being involved in the plan is that each entity that signs on brings expertise of different backgrounds and perspectives. Myers said that bringing together Manatee County with the cities of Anna Maria, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Palmetto and the town of Longboat Key helps all involved.

“We do work as a group with the local mitigation strategy members. Working with all stakeholders we are getting subject matter experts identifying the best strategies,” Myers said. “It unlocks money, but in the work group there are municipalities, fire departments, sheriffs and more all bringing their different expertise.”

The plan also gives an “overall risk ranking” for each potential hazard based on probability, consequence and vulnerability. The highest ranked risk is, unsurprisingly, hurricanes followed by flooding at No. 2 and terrorist acts at No. 3. The two lowest risks are winter storms and space weather. Other risks like volcanic activity, landslides and earthquakes are not evaluated because of the low probability they would occur in Manatee County.