St. Mary's County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan

Chapter 1: Introduction
SMC Multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan
community more disaster-resistant. Attendees were encouraged to provide input as to what type of
mitigation measures they wanted the county and communities to pursue. Following approval from FEMA
and MEMA this plan will be brought before the St. Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners for
formal plan adoption at the local level.
Interagency and Intergovernmental Coordination
In addition to the HMPC members listed above, various local, state, and federal agencies were contacted
to provided data, input and cooperation for the St. Mary’s County Hazard Mitigation Plan. These
agencies and their reason for contact are shown in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2 – Interagency Coordination
Agency
Maryland
Department of the
Environment
Maryland
Department of
Natural Resources
Maryland Geological
Survey
Maryland
Emergency
Management
Agency
Maryland
Department of
Planning
National Weather
Service
Method of
Contact
Telephone
Interview and
e-mail
Telephone
Interview and
e-mail
Telephone
and e-mail
E-mail and
internet
website
E-mail and
internet
website
E-mail and
internet
Reason for
Contact
Repetitive loss
information
Shore erosion
data
Shore erosion
data and St.
Mary's Dam
information
Risk assessment
data and disaster
history
Demographics
and MD Property
View Data
Severe Weather
History
MEMA will serve as the state review agency and will
initiate the state clearinghouse process which routes the
final plan to all pertinent Maryland State agencies for
review and comment. The following agencies in Table
3.2 received a draft of the plan for review and comment:
Participating Jurisdictions
The Town of Leonardtown participated by direct
representation on the Planning Team. In addition, they
participated through the following means:
• Responding to questionnaires
• Attending committee meetings
• Reviewing draft plan sections
• Offering comment on the draft plan
• Adopting final plan through formal resolution
Integration with Existing Plans
website
The St. Mary’s County Multi-jurisdictional Hazard
Mitigation Plan will be integrated into the existing adopted County Emergency Operations Plan, last
updated in 2010 and will be administered through the St. Mary’s County Department of Public Safety and
the St. Mary’s County Comprehensive Plan last updated in 2010 through the Department of Land Use
and Growth Management. The requirements of the Hazard Mitigation Plan will be incorporated into future
amendments of zoning ordinance, building code, and comprehensive plan documents. The Town of
Leonardtown will also incorporate the requirements of this mitigation plan into future amendments of its
planning documents.
St. Mary’s County has a number of resources that it can access to implement hazard mitigation
initiatives. These resources include both private and public assets at the local, state, and federal levels.
A detailed “Hazard Mitigation Capabilities Assessment Questionnaire” was prepared and distributed to
the HMPC for input. The questionnaire was designed to assess the community’s ability to reduce future
losses from hazards like floods, winter storms, etc., through its various policies and programs. The intent
of the capability assessment was to provide an inventory of existing policies, programs, practices, and
operational responsibilities that have or may have a major role in helping the community in its overall
efforts to mitigate hazards. The results of the questionnaire are integral to the development of the
mitigation strategy of this plan.
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