Public Works and Utilities Committee

City of Charleston JOSEPH P. RILEY, JR. South Carolina LAURA S. CABINESS, P.E. Mayor Director Department of Public Service PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES COMMITTEE AGENDA There will be a meeting of the Public Works and Utilities Committee on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 to begin at 4:00 p.m. at Providence Baptist Church, 294 Seven Farms Drive, Daniel Island. The following items will be heard: A. Invocation B. Approval of Public Works and Utilities Committee Minutes September 8, 2015 September 21, 2015 – DEFERRED C. Request to Set a Public Hearing None D. Acceptance and Dedication of Rights-of-Way and Easements 1. Carolina Bay Phase 13C.1 and 13C.2 – Acceptance and dedication of Stonestown Drive (50-foot right-of-way) and Clipper Bay Court (50-foot right-of-way). a. Title to Real Estate b. Plats (3) c. Exclusive Stormwater Drainage Easements (2) 2. Daniel Island Parcel F Phase 3 – Acceptance and dedication of Wading Way (50- foot right-of-way) and Bermuda Isle Street (50-foot right-of-way). a. Title to Real Estate b. Plats c. Exclusive Stormwater Drainage Easement (4) E. Requests for Permanent Encroachments None 75 Calhoun Street, 3rd Floor, Charleston, SC 29401-3506 · Phone (843) 724-3754 · Fax (843) 973-7261 F. Temporary Encroachments Approved By The Department of Public Service (For information only) None G. Miscellaneous or Other New Business 1. Building Inspections Third Party Inspection Policy - DEFERRED 2. Annual Review of Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan Councilmember Perry K. Waring Chairperson Section 1 Executive Summary 1.1 – Planning Process The Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan is the result of a community wide effort to determine appropriate mechanisms to address the various types of hazards facing the Charleston Region. The Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Program Committee, which drafted and maintained this plan, consisted of members from each of the local government entities within Charleston County, from State and Federal agencies with a focus on hazard mitigation from the non- profit and public sectors. The committees established under the local “Project Impact” initiative also provide input into the projects recommended in the plan. At the initiation of the planning process utilized in drafting this plan, a questionnaire regarding hazard mitigation and project prioritization was distributed through directed mailings as well as through meetings with professional organizations to solicit input into the recommended contents for the plan. Public meetings were also conducted in three areas throughout the Region to obtain additional input from the citizens of the Region regarding the contents of this plan. In 2003, as a result of changes to Federal law under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, special purpose districts in Charleston County joined the planning process so they would have the opportunity to adopt an approved hazard mitigation plan and meet the new requirements of the Act. All of the original plan signatories have continued to participate in this plan (none have dropped out) and all of the Special Purpose District Governments that adopted the plan during 2004 (see Attachment II-D) have continued to participate in the planning process. For the 2012-2013 Plan, additional entities have joined the planning process and adopted the plan since 2004: namely the College of Charleston and the Charleston County School District, and Roper St. Francis has been added to the plan. Roper St. Francis will be submitting an “Action Plan” only, due to joining the program as of May 2015. All of the local government entities within Charleston County are now participating in the plan. During 2014-2015, a questionnaire was distributed to the plan signatories and others with an interest in hazard mitigation to determine if there were any changes to hazard mitigation and project prioritization since the last questionnaire was distributed in 2006-2007. The results of this survey are included in this plan. The planning process is more thoroughly explained in Section II of this plan. The plan has been drafted in such a manner that the local government entities within Charleston County are able to prepare an action plan for their respective entities and adopt this plan for their use within their government entity. This cooperative approach enables the Region to have a more standardized way of addressing hazards which face all of the government entities, and also avoids a duplication of effort that would occur if all of the government entities individually undertook this type of planning initiative. As a strengthening of this cooperation among the communities a Program for Public Information (see Section IV) was established for 2012-2013 as part of the region’s on-going efforts to better inform its citizenry on proper preparedness and mitigation measures to be undertaken to make the region more resilient to those natural hazards that pose the greatest threat of loss and damage. In Executive Summary 1 the upcoming years, the program will be improved upon and enhanced in order to protect lives and raise awareness of important issues. The Charleston Regional Plan is unique in the fact the plan is updated annually. This allows a continual planning process to keep the plan current, the jurisdictions involved, and the history more dynamic. 1.2 – Hazard Assessment The Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan is based upon the results of the questionnaires and the comments received through both committee and public meetings. The plan includes in Section III a ranking of the types of hazards facing the Charleston Region, with hurricanes being the most serious threat, followed by flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, hazardous material incidents, terrorism activities, and other hazards (such as winter storms and drought). Additional hazards for which the possibility of occurrence is much more remote or non-existent, such as tsunamis, dam failure, volcanoes, landslides, avalanches, land subsidence, and expansive soils are also now discussed in the plan to meet Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requirements. The hazard description section of the plan provides a brief description of the nature of the hazard for these types of hazards within the Charleston Region. The discussion section of the plan provides a more detailed description of the history of hazard event incidents in the Charleston Region. As this section illuminates, the Charleston Region has had numerous, mostly localized, hazard events and a few large-scale hazard events (e.g. Hurricane Hugo in 1989, earthquake of 1886) throughout our history. 1.3 – Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) A HIRA Report is a systematic way to identify and analyze hazards to determine their scope, impact, and the vulnerability of the built environment to such events. Through the yearly Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan, such a systematic process and assessment has already been put into place for the area. As to not duplicate, a separate HIRA document is not included due to the fact each component of a HIRA is already expressed throughout this plan. Per the Code of Federal Regulations, 44 CFR 201.4 (b), “The purpose of mitigation planning is for State, local, and Indian tribal governments to identify the natural hazards that impact them, to identify actions and activities to reduce any losses from those hazards, and to establish a coordinated process to implement the plan, taking advantage of a wide range of resources.” Each aspect of a typical HIRA report is discussed in the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. Among other components, the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan includes identification of hazards, identification of resource requirements, profiles of previous hazardous events, vulnerability assessments, and estimates of potential losses by a variety of simulations, local outreach and education programs, and emergency operations procedures, inventories, plans, and shortfalls. As noted in Section III. Hazard Assessment, the Charleston region is susceptible to hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, drought conditions, terrorism events, and other hazards. Because of such identified risks, mitigation and education are essential. Furthermore, the Executive Summary 2 aforementioned hazards included in Section III. are in a ranked order according in part to a questionnaire found in Section II completed by the Hazard Mitigation Committee. In addition, Due to the fact the Mitigation Plan encompasses a regional perspective rather than a single municipality or organization, the effect is a more complete and coordinated plan to improve the safety of citizens against potential natural and manmade hazards. The Charleston County Hazard Mitigation Committee works with each government or adopting entity and together, this collaborative regional plan for hazard mitigation can also serve as a HIRA report. 1.4 – Problem Assessment The Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan also addresses the vulnerability of the Region to each of the major types of hazards facing the region in Section IV, Problem Assessment. Each of the major hazard types are discussed in terms of which types of buildings are most vulnerable to each type of hazard with an estimation of the number of vulnerable buildings within the Region to flood/hurricane damage being provided (e.g. a total of 78,355 buildings are estimated to be vulnerable to flood damage in the Region based upon their location in the Special Flood Hazard Area only, and of these, an estimated 47,169 buildings are estimated to be vulnerable based upon both their date of construction and location within the Special Flood Hazard Area) (Section A). Estimated potential building and other property losses due to earthquakes and tornadoes are also discussed (Section A). The types of hazards that pose a threat to the infrastructure to the Region and in what manner (Section B), known flood damages (Section C), past flood impacts (Section D), Emergency Warning Needs (Section E), Critical Facilities (Section F), Natural and Beneficial Functions of floodplains (Section G), Development and Population Trends (Section H), and Economic Impact of hazard events (Section I) are also reviewed. The overall determination from this section is that the Charleston Region is potentially vulnerable to loss as a result of a hazard event to a relatively high degree, particularly considering the increasing population of elderly people and increasing number of residents not necessarily familiar with the types of hazards facing the region and how best to prepare and protect themselves from these hazards. Since tourism plays such a predominant role in the local economy and is often negatively affected by large-scale hazard events with national media coverage, the potential economic losses associated with a hazard event are potentially high. 1.5 – Goals The goals of the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan (Section V) compliment the goals of the Charleston County “Project Impact” initiative and the Community Action for a Renewed Environment program. In general, these goals are intended to minimize future losses of life and property associated with hazard events facing the Charleston Region. Since this plan is a regional plan intended for adoption by the local government entities, the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Program Committee provided flexibility within this plan to enable local government entities with specific goals to include those in this section as they deemed appropriate. 1.6 – Review of Possible Activities Executive Summary 3  The Possible Activities section of the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan (Section VI) provides prioritization factors to be utilized in selecting projects to be performed as well as a description of the on-going activities currently being performed within the Region. This section also lists suggested other activities that possibly could be performed to enhance the hazard mitigation within the Charleston Region. This section discusses Preventive Activities (e.g. primarily regulatory activities designed to provide improved resistance of development to hazard events) in Section A, Property Protection Activities (e.g. activities designed to improve the ability of the citizens or the existing building stock/infrastructure to withstand hazard events) in Section B, Natural and Beneficial Functions of Floodplains/Resource Preservation Activities (e.g. activities geared towards the preservation of the natural and historic resources of the Region) in Section C, Emergency Services (e.g. activities geared towards hazard event warning and government response) in Section D, Structural Projects (e.g. activities which are infrastructure improvements designed to enhance the hazard resistance of the Region) in Section E, and Public Information Activities (e.g. activities geared towards educating the citizens of the Region regarding hazard preparation and response) in Section F. The overall view provided within this section is that the Region is already doing many activities for the enhancement of our hazard mitigation however; there are also additional activities which may be done to further prepare our residents for the hazard events to which the Region is vulnerable. This section has been utilized by the respective government entities to draft their individual action plans regarding which types of activities they intend to pursue in the future to reduce their hazard vulnerability. The prioritization factors within these sections also play a major role in additional project determination under “Project Impact” as new possible activities are considered under this initiative. 1.7 – Adopting Resolution This plan is intended to be a working document which may be subject to revision as the Community Rating System schedule changes or as “Project Impact” decision making committees request revisions that would enhance their ability to perform their functions. The adopting resolutions for the government entities therefore generally include a section recognizing the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Program Committee as a continuing entity to be charged with maintaining and making revisions to this plan as needed, and making periodic reports regarding this plan to the respective Governing Councils or Commissions for the adopting government entities. 1.8 – Action Plan Each government or other adopting entity has included within the plan for their entity a specific action plan regarding activities that they propose be undertaken or continued during each year. This action plan includes activities from several of all of the types of activities discussed within Section VI of the plan. While it is the intention of the entities to undertake the activities included within the action plan, it is also recognized that circumstances may change and the activities listed may not be able to be accomplished within the time frame indicated, depending upon the circumstances encountered. The Community Rating System (CRS) program recognizes that as circumstances change, action plans may also need to change accordingly, and therefore does not punish communities for not performing activities listed within the action plan as long as in the annual review of the plan includes an explanation as to why the activity was not accomplished. The action plan for each entity is periodically updated to reflect changes and to indicate activities for the time period for each year. Each entity that Executive Summary 4 adopted the plan when it was originally developed has also completed a status report on the action plan annually from 1999 - 2016, indicating the progress towards the activities listed within this plan. Those entities that adopted the plan for the first time during 2004 or in a later year also generated status reports of their action plan items in the year(s) following their initial plan adoption. 1.9 – Conclusion The Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan is the result of a cooperative effort of the public and private sectors intended to enhance the ability of all of the local jurisdictions within the Charleston Region to prepare for and respond to hazard events. The plan is comprehensive and complements other initiatives such as “Project Impact” and Charleston Resilience Network currently being undertaken throughout the Charleston Region to help make the Region more resistant to disasters and to reduce environmental pollution within the Region. Additional information regarding this plan is available through the local jurisdictions or Charleston County Building Inspection Services. New to the 2015-2016 Hazard Mitigation Plan In 2014-2015 Roper St. Francis adopted the Charleston Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan, and was subsequently added to all applicable lists and tables as a participant. Their action plan for 2015- 2016 is also displayed in Section 7.27. Annual updates are a necessary component of the plan’s 5-year update cycle. Between May 1st, 2014 and April 30th, 2015 Charleston County was faced with a variety of different hazards. A summary of the historic data, which has been added to the plan, is included below.  There were 13 total coastal flood, flash flood, and other flooding events.  There were 638 fire incidents of various types, including outside fires and vehicle fires.  In May 2014, there was 1 EF0 tornado spotted in Rockville, SC. There was no reported damage.  In October 2014, there was an earthquake in the Ladson/Summerville area which registered 2.2 on the Richter scale.  There were 363 hazardous materials incidents, including fuel spills and gas leaks.  There were 3 rip current events which resulted in the death of 1 person.  Over a period of 9 total days, there were 7 strong wind events as the result of thunderstorms, 2 hail storms, and 1 lightning strike event which in total resulted in $31,000 worth of damage.  Over a period of 12 total weeks, Charleston County was listed as being in a drought condition of D0 – abnormally dry.  There were 118 reported suspicious package and bomb threat incidents.  There were no hurricanes, tropical storms, or tropical depressions, nor any extreme winter weather events that affected the Charleston region.  There were also no pandemic events, dam failures, nor tsunamis that affected the region and statistically, there is no substantial risk that these events will ever affect the Charleston region. 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