Activity 1: Formulate Resilient Recovery Projects

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to identify potential recovery projects, determine mitigation strategies and prioritize projects.

Why?

By now, you've brought the community together to identify issues and establish a community vision. You've reached out to local, state, and federal organizations and agencies to partner in this recovery effort. Now it is time for the Long-Term Community Recovery (LTCR) team to begin identifying the projects that will address the community issues and vision. As projects are identified and developed, priorities will need to be established and a recovery value can be identified for each project. The LTCR team will need to evaluate and prioritize each project.

When?

Upon completion of the Initial Damage Assessment, or as soon as it is determined that long-term community recovery efforts will be needed. (Days 31-120)

How does my community do this?

1. Identify recovery projects and actions. To identify recovery projects and actions, it is necessary to understand the community’s priorities for the recovery plan.  A good place to start is utilizing this template, referencing the FEMA Long-Term Community Recovery Process Guide (Pages 47-53), and reviewing the Douglas County Disaster Recovery Plan. The below priorities are not intended to be exclusive of one another; they are intended to provide a relative framework for the design and implementation of recovery programs and actions, and the allocation of limited resources. They include:
   • Public safety and security.
   • Critical infrastructure to include communications, roadways, water, sewer, natural gas, electrical power, aviation facilities, and railways.
   • Critical community services and facilities such as hospitals and other medical services, schools, and childcare resources.
   • Economic stability initially based on critical needs such as grocery and hardware stores, pharmacy and drug stores, gas stations, and other suppliers of daily needed goods.
   • Maintaining government services as described in the county’s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP).
   • Social well-being includes religious organizations, community centers, and other social support mechanisms.
   • Protection and restoration of natural and cultural resources such as libraries, museums, historical sites, and parks.
   • Protecting property and the environment.
2. Identify opportunities to mitigate impacts from future disasters. Determine ways that would re-establish a healthy, functioning community that will sustain itself over time and be resilient to future disruptions. Examples of actions include:
   • Providing permanent disaster-resistant housing units to replace those destroyed.
   • Initiating a low-interest facade loan program for the portion of the downtown area that sustained damage from the disaster (and thus encouraging other improvements that revitalize downtown).
   • Initiating a buy-out of flood-prone properties and designating them community open space.
   • Widening a bridge or roadway that improves both residents' access to employment areas and improves a disaster evacuation route.
3. Evaluate and prioritize projects. The project identification process will result in the discovery of many valid projects. Yet some of these projects may have competing priorities and/or implementation time limits. Every project - large or small - must be evaluated and prioritized for implementation. The Colorado Resiliency Prioritization Criteria Assessment Tool can help your community rank projects based on the State’s nine resiliency prioritization criteria. Alternatively use this Identifying, Evaluating, and Prioritizing Long Term Recovery Projects template. In the end, each identified project must satisfy two guiding principles:
   • Does the project address the Vision and Goals of the Community as identified through the community visioning process?
   • Does the project focus on the overall Community Recovery?

Community Call Out: Town of Limon

In 2018, the Town of Limon needed to mitigate floodplain problems created by actions of the long-bankrupt Rock Island Railroad. Past actions by the railroad had resulted in the enlargement of the floodplain to cover almost 1/3 of the Town of Limon. Limon was able to apply for and manage a unique flood mitigation package by working with a diverse group of stakeholders.