CHAPTER 1 - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSES OF THE PLAN

ABOUT THE PLAN
The Shelby County. Alabama. Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan is a multi jurisdictional guide for all communities that have participated in the preparation of this plan through the Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee (HMPC). The jurisdictions that participated in the development of this plan include Shelby County; the cities of Alabaster, Pelham, Helena, Montevallo, Columbiana, and Calera; and the towns of Chelsea, Indian Springs Village, Vincent, Harpersville, Wilsonville, Wilton and newly incorporated Westover. It fulfills the requirements of the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) as administered by the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region IV.

This plan complies with all of the eligibility requirements for FEMA grant assistance to participating localities, including the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System (CRS), and the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMA).

The planning process began in February 2003 with the appointment of the HMPC by the Local Emergency Planning Committee of the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency (EMA).

Scope
The scope of the Shelby County, Alabama Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan is the unincorporated and incorporated areas within the county. The plan addresses all natural hazards deemed to threaten property and persons within Shelby County. Both short- and long-term hazard mitigation strategies are addressed, implementation tasks assigned, and funding alternatives identified.

In addition to this chapter, the plan contains the following elements:

• A profile of the county's geography, history, physical features, and
  socioeconomic characteristics (Chapter 2. County Profile)
• A description of the planning process that opens participation to all local governments, the public, academia, businesses, non-profit agencies, and regionaL state, and Federal governments (Chapter 3. Planning Process)
• A general assessment of the county's past and predicted exposure to natural hazards and the risks that it faces, including impacts on buildings, critical facilities and in&structure, and loss estimates (Chapter 4. Risk Assessment)
• An assessment of local governments' capabilities to implement hazard mitigation measures, and the goals, objectives, policies and action items intended to effectively mitigate the county's natural hazard risks (Chapter 5. Mitigation Strategies)
• The short-range (5-year) mitigation action programs for each participating
  jurisdiction (Chapter 6. Community Mitigation Action Programs)
• Procedures for maintaining an active and effective long-range hazard mitigation
  planning and implementation program (Chapter 7. Plan Maintenance)

Authority
Section 409 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 93-288, as amended), Title 44 CFR, as amended by Section 102 of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, provides the framework for state and local governments to evaluate and mitigate all hazards as a condition for receiving Federal disaster assistance. A major
requirement of the law is the development of a local hazard mitigation plan.

Funding
The AEMA awarded a $10,800 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Planning Grant to the Shelby County EMA for the preparation of this plan in December 2002. The grant provided 75 percent funding tom FEMA, through the AEMA. The local share, 25 percent, consisted of in-kind services provided by the Shelby County EMA and members of the HMPC.

Hazard mitigation plans can identify a range of structural approaches to lower the costs of future disasters by meeting the unique needs of the community. For example, structural mitigation projects for flooding could involve modifying a stream channel to increase the conveyance of floodwaters or retarding the flow rate by the construction of detention facilities.

Mitigation strategies can also involve non-structural initiatives, such as educational programs to inform the community about the risks the public and its property face in order to encourage them to purchase insurance on their homes. Non-structural programs can also include developing and enforcing regulations to prevent construction in natural hazard areas, or to ensure that development that does occur will be resistant to the hazards threatening the area .Mitigation programs and projects serve to lessen a community's vulnerability to the hardships and costs of disasters. The implementation of mitigation programs is a key component to achieving a sustainable community, one in which the economic and social needs of people, businesses, and institutions coexist with natural environmental constraints and are protected from the disruptions and impacts of emergencies and disasters. Hazard mitigation planning must be closely coordinated with a community's overall planning and development efforts. The most effective way for a community to initiate this objective is through a comprehensive local mitigation planning program. Comprehensive planning can provide Shelby County citizens a safe, healthy and prosperous place to live and work. The purpose of the Shelby County. Alabama. Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan is to develop a unified approach among its local governments for dealing with identified natural hazards and hazard management problems. This plan serves as a guide for local governments in their ongoing efforts to reduce vulnerability to the impacts produced by natural hazards .Further, the plan seeks to accomplish the following additional purposes: