Tag: Deschutes County Code Review

WILDFIRE PREVENTION IN DESCHUTES COUNTY

Posted on by Julia Havens

Deschutes County Code Review Team Community and Regional Planning Michael DeHart Erin Horan Maureen Jackson Brett Setterfield Drew Pfefferle. Community Planning Workshop CPW

As the school year comes to an end and families start planning summer vacations, Deschutes County prepares for the 2015 wildfire season. With the June 2014 Two Bulls Fire fresh in their mind and visible on the landscape, County officials plan for another high-risk fire season. This year’s wildfire season has an ominous start as Governor Kate Brown designates Deschutes County in a drought emergency.

“The majority of our state is parched due to the warm winter and lack of snow,” Governor Brown said. “As we move into summer, many areas of the state are going to dry out very quickly, likely leading to a difficult fire season as well as water shortages. We need our state, local and federal partners to be prepared as our communities grapple with hot and dry conditions [1].”

Residents have already prepared by collecting and recycling a record amount of yard debris through the FireFree program[2]. The 2015 May pick-up collected 37,929 cubic yards of debris, 27% more than 2014. Deschutes County residents participate in the spring and fall events to clear and recycle needles, branches, leaves, and brush debris around their homes. The cleanups represent a sustained effort to reduce risk of wildfire and create defensible space around homes.

County Officials are also being proactive by partnering with the Community Planning Workshop (CPW) to conduct a review and analysis of their county development code as it relates to wildfire. Over the past five months, our County Code Review team has developed and presented program and policy options to County staff. The goal of the team’s code review process is to codify higher safety standards and make regulations more transparent for developers and homeowners seeking to comply.

This project’s importance stems from the fact that Deschutes County is the fastest growing county in Oregon, and about a third of population growth is locating outside city limits, in wildland-urban interface areas where wildfires can burn thousands of acres unabated. By proposing higher safety standards on County lands, we hope to shape future development in a way that minimizes the risk that wildfires pose to lives and property. Although implementation of these policy options will not take place immediately, we are working closely with County Staff to ensure our policies are incorporated into the County’s work plan moving forward.

[1] http://www.oregon.gov/newsroom/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?newsid=730
[2]http://www.firefree.org/

Deschutes County Code Review Team Community and Regional Planning Michael DeHart Erin Horan Maureen Jackson Brett Setterfield Drew Pfefferle. Community Planning Workshop CPWAbout the Authors: the Deschutes County Code Review Team is made up of Community and Regional Planning Masters candidates Michael DeHart, Erin Horan, Maureen Jackson, Brett Setterfield, and Drew Pfefferle. Team members are studying Community and Regional Planning in various areas of interests including environmental planning and policy, transportation, and natural hazard planning and mitigation.

 

BECOMING RESILIENT

Posted on by Julia Havens


flower-in-cement-smallest-blog

Jumping into hazardous situations seems to be a common theme for me. I like to take on challenges and learn new things so joining this project on an unfamiliar subject of natural hazard planning was no different for me. This term, in Community Planning Workshop, I have had the pleasure of working on the Natural Hazard Code Review for Deschutes County. This project is a contracted project through the Community Service Center under the advisement of Michael Howard (Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience) and Robert Parker.  I was very excited to join this project with my newfound interest in natural hazard planning and planning for communities to be resilient.

So what is resilience? Resilience is the ability to anticipate, absorb, adapt to and recover from disruptions. The first part to becoming resilient is to be able to anticipate disruptions and be prepared. Currently, Deschutes County contains 96% of its land in a wildfire hazard area and multiple rivers are determined by the National Flood Insurance Program to be special flood hazard zones. The County uses multiple measures to help mitigate risk in these hazard areas such as restriction of development structures in the floodplain, Project Wildfire, a non-regulatory program that works with residents and the community to help educate and mitigate against fire hazards, and also through regulation in their building and land development codes.

In this project for Deschutes County, we are reviewing the County Development Code in regards to flood and wildfire risk and determining options, either regulatory or non-regulatory programs, that could further help reduce risk to life and property from these hazards. We are collecting research from model ordinances, case studies and best practices to compare with current policies and programs in Deschutes County. We are discovering programs and policies that could increase flood and wildfire protection in subdivisions, destination resorts and single-family homes. We will then present these options to the Planning Commission to receive their feedback and eventually present our final report to the Board of County Commissioners in May.

Planning for natural hazard mitigation and resilience is both important and necessary to ensure protection of life and property. I am lucky to work with a wonderful group of team members who continue to remain passionate, determined and always with a sense of humor to keep our spirits high and our focus strong on achieving the best possible mitigation strategies for the County. While I am working towards helping this community become resilient in the face of natural disasters, I am becoming resilient myself with this new, challenging and immensely interesting project.

 

Erin Horan CPW Community Planning Workshop Deschutes Natural Hazards Code Review Team OPDR Oregon Partnership for Disaster ResilienceAbout the Author: Erin Horan is a Master’s in Community Regional Planning student interested in sustainable design and active transportation. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Erin received her Bachelor’s in Science degree in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance. She worked for the City of Gilroy for three years in the Finance Department before deciding to pursue a career in Planning. During her free time Erin enjoys exploring the beautiful outdoors in the Pacific Northwest with her boyfriend, dog, and bike. She is also a San Francisco Giants and 49ers enthusiast!