Posted
For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 01, 2016
Public Comment Sought on Draft Washington County Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan
Community members of Hillsboro, Tigard, and unincorporated Washington County are invited to provide input on the 2016 Washington County Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan is open for a public comment period which runs from August 31 to September 14, 2016.
Washington County residents are vulnerable to earthquakes, floods and other natural hazards. To address those threats, Washington County, Hillsboro and Tigard teamed up to develop the mitigation plan together. These three jurisdictions each had previous mitigation plans that needed to be updated. This presented an opportunity for a partnership in the development of this joint plan starting in March 2015.
The plan assesses hazards and outlines strategies and actions that can be taken to reduce the impacts of natural disasters. Strategies and actions may involve improving development practices, seismic retrofits, property buy-outs in flood-prone areas, public education programs and other approaches that can make our community safer. Mitigation efforts are focused on the goal of reducing the likelihood of loss of life, damage and disruption of essential services whenever a disaster might strike. Once finalized, the county and the two cities will work to implement these actions over the next five years.
The draft plan is available on the Washington County Emergency Management website at www.co.washington.or.us/EmergencyManagement. Community members may provide comments to Chris Walsh, Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator at [email protected].
Media Contact:
Chris Walsh, Emergency Management Coordinator503-846-7586
[email protected]