SoWalSally
12-17-2006, 10:10 AM
By Gabriel Tynes
With local disaster preparation and response time among the slowest in the state, Walton County planners met in Freeport Wednesday to discuss draft copies of the county’s most recent local mitigation strategy (LMS) report.
Updated every five years, the LMS report ranks areas of primary concern in disaster mitigation. State and federal governments can use the report as a guide for disaster preparedness and recovery, allocating funds as necessary before and after disasters.
The LMS is primarily composed of a list of desired infrastructure and equipment for county and its municipalities. The items are ranked by a rough equation accounting for an item’s benefit cost ratio and number of affected citizens.
Planning Department staff engineer George Newman leads the group compiling and reviewing data for the report. Newman said while the LMS is fairly comprehensive, it lacks much-needed input from businesses, industry, schools and individuals.
“We want individuals to know that they can submit their needs and concerns for inclusion in the report,” Newman said. “What we don’t see, and something that is certainly eligible, is generators for service stations or hospitals and clinics or other support businesses. Those are things that can fi nd funding.”
Topping the list is the U.S. Highway 331 widening project from South Walton to I-10. The project has already been allocated funds for 2008, but may not come to realization for another five to 10 years. Newman emphasized that items higher on the list will not necessarily be the fi rst to addressed.
“It’s not that we have to start at the top of the list and work our way down,” Newman said. “The majority of these projects are less than $100,000 and things we can get done soon.”
The LMS will be available for public review within a month, and anyone interested in inclusion can contact the planning department for an application.
With local disaster preparation and response time among the slowest in the state, Walton County planners met in Freeport Wednesday to discuss draft copies of the county’s most recent local mitigation strategy (LMS) report.
Updated every five years, the LMS report ranks areas of primary concern in disaster mitigation. State and federal governments can use the report as a guide for disaster preparedness and recovery, allocating funds as necessary before and after disasters.
The LMS is primarily composed of a list of desired infrastructure and equipment for county and its municipalities. The items are ranked by a rough equation accounting for an item’s benefit cost ratio and number of affected citizens.
Planning Department staff engineer George Newman leads the group compiling and reviewing data for the report. Newman said while the LMS is fairly comprehensive, it lacks much-needed input from businesses, industry, schools and individuals.
“We want individuals to know that they can submit their needs and concerns for inclusion in the report,” Newman said. “What we don’t see, and something that is certainly eligible, is generators for service stations or hospitals and clinics or other support businesses. Those are things that can fi nd funding.”
Topping the list is the U.S. Highway 331 widening project from South Walton to I-10. The project has already been allocated funds for 2008, but may not come to realization for another five to 10 years. Newman emphasized that items higher on the list will not necessarily be the fi rst to addressed.
“It’s not that we have to start at the top of the list and work our way down,” Newman said. “The majority of these projects are less than $100,000 and things we can get done soon.”
The LMS will be available for public review within a month, and anyone interested in inclusion can contact the planning department for an application.