Dare County has six municipalities within its jurisdiction and each local government is responsible for its own land use planning guidelines and zoning regulations. The County’s Land Use Plan includes a section on intergovernmental coordination and implementation which describes the steps taken to ensure that the goals and policies of the plans across these municipalities are as consistent as possible. The evaluation of the integration of hazard mitigation into land use plans was done using the 227-page long Countywide Land Use Plan.
The plan is strong in incorporating intergovernmental cooperation; it mentions in multiple context where that cooperation will be imperative to identify possible solutions. This issue was high even on the citizen’s radars, as they ranked this issue the eleventh major concern out of twenty five growth issues in the issue identification and prioritization meeting. To address this issue, Dare County’s Land Use Plan includes a section on “Intergovernmental
Coordination.” The plan also recognizes that partnerships between local governments and the private sector may be necessary to address certain needs within the county. On the other hand, the Plan states that “it is often felt that not enough local input is sought by Federal and State agencies before they adopt regulations or restrictions that impact Dare County” in their section titled “Federal and State Support.” Their policy and implementation strategy suggest that the County take a more independent stance, rather than cooperate on the first given opportunity to do
so. For example, Policy 41 states that Dare County “reserves the right to support, oppose, review, or comment on additional regulations that may impact Dare County and its economy.”
A distinguishing feature of this plan is its inclusion of a section on “Storm Hazard
Mitigation” which includes an evacuation plan and also discusses policies related to post disaster reconstruction and recovery (p88). Dare County’s Land Use Plan includes a Post Disaster
Reconstruction and Recovery Plan which details many factors that need to be considered after a disaster strikes, such as when or who will be authorized to reenter the county, what the priorities will be for repairing and reconstructing infrastructure and service facilities. The plan also describes what the possible actions of the property owners are in terms of reconstruction of their homes depending on the amount of damage incurred. Furthermore, it states that each of the structures will be “evaluated in an effort to mitigate any features that contributed to damage or loss during the disaster.”
In this section, the plan identifies specific policies to mitigate hazards. For example, it addresses a hazard control mechanism: “key mitigation technique practiced in Dare County is the enforcement of base flood elevation standards designed to allow rising floodwaters to flow freely under elevated structures.” It describes that in the event of extensive hurricane damage to
publicly-owned utilities or other improvements requiring replacement or reconstruction, alternative locations will be considered and pursued that will mitigate the potential for similar repetitive losses. In the same vein of mitigating future damage or repetitive losses, the Dare County Board of Commissioners may declare a moratorium on all building permits and or rezoning requests pending an evaluation of the damage and any reconstruction strategies in the event of a damaging hurricane.
The plan is weak on vulnerability assessment. Assessment of the population as well as the properties impacted are described qualitatively rather than quantitatively, using such words as “much of” probably. Similarly, it does not include much detail in terms of critical facilities or public facilities that will be damaged, but it is probably due to the fact that they recognize that there are only a few areas of the county that is high enough in natural ground elevation such that it will not be affected to some degree, of flooding. At the same time, Dare County includes the number of parcels and their estimated value and note “that under worse cases scenarios, much of Dare County could be flooded by storm tides and/or wind-driven waves. Only those areas with
The plan furthermore indirectly addresses hazard mitigation by its making the protection of natural resources a priority (p65). Although the intent of limiting the development impacts on resources is to protect fishing industries and tourism, policies such as “development projects shall be designed and constructed to minimize detrimental impacts on surface water quality, groundwater quality and air quality. Structures should be designed to fit the natural topographic conditions and vegetation versus modifications to natural conditions to accommodate structures” actually help (Policy 18). The implementation strategy furthermore specifies that the county will “Encourage property owners to design residential sites limit impacts on the natural topography and vegetation.” Although the wording here is not strong, and does not make it mandatory, the county is cognizant of the utility of designing residential sites to limit environmental impacts. The policies in Dare County’s plan include imposing limits on development. The plan describes how the county currently uses different construction techniques to meet the base flood standards established by FEMA; elevation of structures and use of borrow material or fill soil to modify natural ground elevation. In its policy section, it states that “the county supports as minimum standards, the administration and enforcement of all applicable floodplain management regulations and the National Flood Insurance Program” by continuing “to
participate in the Community Rating System and implementation and enforcement of the Dare County Flood Ordinance” (Policy 31 and Implementation Strategy). The plan also identifies that acquisition may take place in multiple contexts. Acquisition is mentioned in the Community Growth Pattern Section as “Dare County reserves the right to review additional acquisitions of private property for public ownership on a case-by-case basis” (Policy 54).
Contrary to this tone established recognizing the utility of acquisition, Dare County does not discourage development in the hazardous areas. Instead, it promotes “managed” oceanfront shoreline development to protect and preserve the natural and recreational resources (Policy 4). Dare county definitely seems more determined to able to decide for themselves where and how to regulate development; they will implement and enforce the NFIP’s base flood elevation standards, but they “[reserve] the right to review, comment, advocate, or oppose any proposed regulations or programs that may affect the regulation of ocean hazards areas of environmental concern” (page 57). This is a serious concern because the majority of the county is in the floodplains and the existing residents do need to find a way to survive and maintain a quality of life.
Contrary to what one may expect in an area with much wetlands, Dare County has, in its plan updating process, decided to take a more flexible approach in wetland mitigation (page 4). Whereas before, Dare County supported the use of mitigation for loss of wetland areas for both public and private projects, the updated version notes that use of mitigation will be determined on a case by case basis.
Overall, although Dare County’s Land Use Plan scored the highest of the three plans evaluated, this plan is not without concern. The tone as well as the policies included in the plan allow for considerable discretion on the part of administrators in implementation. The fact that the language of the plan is not strong means that it is easier to be ignored when there is difficulty in getting support from elected officials.