Rice County Environmental Services will be hosting a public open house on the newly developed All Hazard Mitigation Plan and on the updated Rice County Floodplain Management Regulations. The Open House will run from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Thursday, March 1, 2012 in Conference Room 3 of the Rice County Government Services Building, 320 NW 3rd St, Faribault.
The Rice County Floodplain Management Regulations are being updated to comply with the newly released Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) updated floodplain determination maps. Rice County's regulations must be updated by April 3, 2012 to remain eligible for the National Floodplain Insurance Program and for property owners to be able to purchase/renew flood insurance in the county. The Rice County Floodplain Management Regulations cover all the unincorporated areas of Rice County with the exception of Bridgewater Township.
The All Hazard Mitigation Plan has been developed to meet FEMA's Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 in order to receive federal and/or state funding should a disaster strike. A planning grant to develop this plan was received from the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program which is a program from FEMA administered in the State of Minnesota by the Minnesota Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM). The purpose of the plan is to reduce repetitive losses from natural disasters, to identify possible mitigation projects which eliminate/reduce future disaster expenditures for the repair/replacement of public and private property, and for the relief of personal loss, hardship, and suffering.
The Plan covers the jurisdiction of Rice County and most of the cities and townships that lie within (those that have adopted resolutions to participate). The Plan was developed through a coordinated effort of Emergency Management and Environmental Services Departments along with a twenty-two member technical committee representing various sectors involved in disaster planning and response.
Further information on both these items will be available at the Open House as well as available online at www.co.rice.mn.us/planning.
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