§ 5.6. Protection of Coastal Populations and Structures

5.6.1 Post Disaster Redevelopment

Redevelopment within Santa Rosa County following a storm event will likely reflect existing development with regard to land use. However, redevelopment of substantially damaged structures will require that current building codes and land development requirements be adhered to.

5.6.2 Santa Rosa County Local Mitigation Strategy

The Santa Rosa County Local Mitigation Strategy was updated in 2015 and is incorporated herein by reference. This document contains several objectives that provide a clear, concise strategy on where to expend additional fund and that address mitigation as a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional program. In addition to non-structural approaches to mitigation (growth management), public education campaigns, and the hardening of critical facilities and shelters—the concepts of community resiliency and intergovernmental and inter-agency coordination are also components of the LMS.

The 2015 LMS Committee focused on the hazard-specific goals to maintain the "all-hazards" approach. Additionally, objectives were reviewed and modified to achieve these goals.

1.

Become a more disaster resilient community;

2.

Minimize coastal, riverine, and inland flooding losses throughout the County;

3.

Minimize storm wind losses throughout the County; and

5.

Minimize wildfire losses in the forest/urban interface areas.

Mitigation tools and techniques identified within the local strategy fall into three broad categories: (1) structural techniques including design and construction; (2) environmental interventions and (3) non-structural interventions.

Structural mitigation projects include strengthening of vulnerable structures and public facilities to withstand wind, fire and other forces, elevation of structures to protect them from flood damage, construction of storm water control facilities and drainage improvements. Environmental intervention refers to actions that reduce the vulnerability of communities by armoring them against the elements. This term includes beach restoration and stabilization projects. Non-structural mitigation refers to policies for avoiding hazard impacts, applying zoning restrictions, land acquisition in the floodplain, promoting citizen awareness and public education initiatives.

Each goal identified within the local strategy's objectives fell into one of five (5) specific measures:

A.

Prevention:

Government administrative or regulatory actions or processes that influence the way land and buildings are developed and built. These actions also include public activities to reduce hazard losses. Examples include planning and zoning, building codes, capital improvement programs, open space, preservation and storm water management regulation.

B.

Property Protection:

Actions that involve the modification of building or infrastructure to protect them from a hazard or removal from the hazard area. Examples include acquisition, elevation, relocation, structural retrofits, flood proofing, storm shutters, and impact-resistant glass.

C.

Public Education and Awareness:

Actions to inform and educate citizens, elected officials and property owners about potential risks from hazards and potential ways to mitigate them. Such actions include outreach projects, real estate disclosure, hazard information centers, and school-age and adult education programs.

D.

Natural Resource Protection:

Actions that, in addition to minimizing hazard losses also preserve or restore the functions of natural systems. These actions include sediment and erosion control, stream corridor restoration, watershed management, forest and vegetation management and wetland restoration and preservation.

E.

Structural Projects:

These are actions that involve the construction of structures to reduce the impact of a hazard. Such structures include storm water controls, floodwalls, seawalls, retaining walls and safe rooms.

The implementation of a mitigation program is a key component in the achievement of a "sustainable community", one in which citizens, businesses and institutions are protected from the disruptions and impacts of disasters. In a county such as Santa Rosa County, coordination among and between levels of government is critical to the success of the program.

5.6.3 Santa Rosa County Flood Mitigation Plan and Community Rating System Participation

This Plan and the County's Land Development Code regulations, are integrated into the County's Flood Mitigation Plan and are integral to the County's Community Rating System (CRS) participation. Flood mitigation plans form the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce flood losses and break the cycle of flood damage, followed by reconstruction, and repeated damage. It creates a framework for risk-based decision making to reduce damages to lives, property, and the economy from future floods.

Flood mitigation is sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from flooding. Local governments are required to develop a flood mitigation plan as a condition for receiving certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance.

Santa Rosa County has developed a Flood Mitigation Plan that provides a comprehensive set of strategies for flood mitigation and includes a list of activities that can further mitigation goals.

The purpose of this Flood Mitigation Plan is to:

• Help reduce flood losses;

• Improve local flood hazard mitigation capability;

• Increase public and private sector awareness by educating about the hazards, loss reduction measures, and the natural and beneficial functions of floodplains;

• Address and protect cultural, economic and natural resources;

• This Flood Mitigation Plan (FMP) is intended to accomplish this purpose and to promote a sustainable and flood-resistant community.

The County's efforts have demonstrated a strong commitment to flood mitigation and have served to minimize the impacts of flooding. There is an ongoing commitment to improvement that is further demonstrated by this plan. This Flood Mitigation Plan is intended to provide direction and to identify the actions necessary to advance the numerous facets of Santa Rosa County's overall flood mitigation efforts. This Flood Mitigation Plan has been purposefully developed to be consistent with:

• The Santa Rosa County Local Mitigation Strategy 2015—2020 (LMS);

• The National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System;

• Floodplain Management Planning Process; and

• The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.

On October 14, 1977 Santa Rosa County joined the National Flood Insurance Program. In October 1993, Santa Rosa County qualified for the CRS Program. Participating jurisdictions are classified in CRS classes. These classes range from Class 1, which requires the most credit points and provides the largest reduction in insurance premiums, to Class 10, which receives no reduction in insurance premiums. Currently, Santa Rosa County has a CRS rating of Class 6, resulting in a 20% reduction in flood insurance premiums for citizens that purchase flood insurance in Special Flood Hazard Areas. This puts Santa Rosa County in an elite group of only 29 jurisdictions in the state of Florida that have achieved a Class 6 rating.

5.6.4 Florida Statewide Regional Evacuation Study Program (SRESP) for the West Florida Region

The Florida Division of Emergency Management, Division of Community Planning and Department of Transportation, in coordination with the West Florida Regional Planning Council (WFRPC), have developed the Florida Statewide Regional Evacuation Study Program (SRESP) for the West Florida Region. This report updates the region's evacuation population estimates, evacuation clearance times and public shelter demands. Originally released on October 5, 2010, the study covers Bay, Escambia, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington counties and their respective municipalities, and is updated as needed.

To correspond to the three different sets of demographic data, three model networks were ultimately developed. The base 2006 network and two future year networks to correspond to the 2010 demographic data and the 2015 demographic data. The 2006 base model network was updated to reflect roadway capacity improvement projects completed between 2006 and 2010 to create the 2010 network. The 2010 network was then updated to reflect planned roadway capacity improvement projects expected to be implemented between 2011 and 2015 to create the 2015 network.

Two distinct sets of analyses were conducted using the SRESP evacuation transportation model, including one set of analysis for growth management purposes and one set of analysis for emergency management purposes. The two sets of analysis include the following:

: Base Scenarios—The base scenarios were developed to estimate a series of worst case scenarios and are identical for all eleven Regional Planning Councils across the State. These scenarios assume 100 percent of the vulnerable population evacuates and includes impacts from counties outside of the RPC area. These scenarios are generally designed for growth management purposes, in order to ensure that all residents that choose to evacuate during an event are able to do so. These times are provided in Tables 2-3 and 2-4 of the Transportation Element Supporting Documentation.

: Operational Scenarios—The operational scenarios were developed by the RPCs in coordination with local county emergency managers and are designed to provide important information to emergency management personnel to plan for different storm events. These scenarios are different from region to region and vary for each evacuation level.