The PA Chapter of the American Planning Association and the PA Local Government Training Partnership are cosponsoring training on planning for disaster resilient communities.  There are six training sessions statewide, kicking off with a session at the new Chester County Public Safety Training Campus on May 22nd.

As natural and man-made events teach us over and over, it’s too risky NOT to consider hazard mitigation and disaster resiliency, especially with hazard mitigation being an essential component of site planning, comprehensive planning, stormwater management and numerous other planning practices.  Building resilient communities is not just a product of emergency management and emergency services personnel, but also a responsibility of planners as they assist communities with comprehensive planning and development of and updates to zoning and subdivision and land development ordinances.  The session will cover details on creating a hazard mitigation plan as well as review how to incorporate emergency management and emergency services planning in other municipal plans and ordinances.  A key concept of the training will be how to ensure that land use and community planners and emergency management personnel/emergency responders are coordinating their efforts.

The training will use Pennsylvania specific case studies and examples to convey relevant information to attendees.  The presenters will review tools, resources, and guidance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to help you match resources to their challenges.  The target audience for this training session includes professional planners and elected officials, municipal staff, emergency management personnel, and citizen planners who are well-versed in planning and seeking advanced information on hazard mitigation planning and emergency management to improve the safety and resiliency of residents and business for current and future hazard risks. There will be ample opportunities for Q&A.