Avoiding Coastal Hazard Areas: Best State Mitigation Practices

Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3140

Mr. Richardson is a land use lawyer and planning consultant with extensive practice experience in the implementation of land use and growth management programs. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Mr. Salvesen is a doctoral candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Formerly, he worked as a senior policy analyst at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. and as a private planning consultant.

Dr. Godschalk is the Stephen Baxter Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, he has done extensive research on hazard mitigation, growth management, and land use planning.

Mr. Norton is a lawyer and doctoral candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Currently studying land use plan implementation for his dissertation, he worked as a consulting environmental policy analyst and planner in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco before returning to graduate school.

ABSTRACT

 
Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and severe coastal storms, occur frequently in predictable locations. These extreme events become disasters only when they intersect with concentrations of human population and development. State governments whose coastlines are vulnerable to hurricanes and coastal storms can create programs to reduce the exposure of people and property to such hazards. Such mitigation programs include mapping hazard areas, notifying the public about potential hazard locations, restricting public subsidies that encourage development in hazard areas, and acquiring property in hazard areas to prevent its development. A number of states operate such programs, including Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas. This article reviews current state coastal hazard mitigation programs to identify "best practices" and to recommend a comprehensive package of mitigation actions to reduce exposure to hazards.