2017 Spencer Comprehensive Land Use Plan

Spencer, Iowa  2017  Comprehensive Plan

Additionally, a comprehensive update is required at least once every 5 years and submitted to FEMA for certification. The revised plan will be adopted by the city council. To assist with the update, information is to be collected by the city annually to document efforts, hazard events, and other pertinent activities to mitigate hazards. Part of plan maintenance is maintaining the planning team. The planning team is composed of local elected officials, city employees and other interested parties. This is an important part of plan maintenance to reconvene the planning team when necessary. MONITORING The Spencer Planning Team and Clay County Emergency Management are responsible for monitoring this portion of the plan. The plan will be monitored based on the mitigation strategies identified and the reported progress to accomplish the work. Projects that are complete will be monitored for effectiveness. Any strategies that are removed from the plan will be examined and documented. An annual reporting sheet is included in this plan for the city to keep track of the mitigation process. INCORPORATION INTO EXISTING PLANS The city is responsible for reviewing its local plans, codes, and ordinances and amending documents as they see appropriate. As appropriate, information and actions from this plan will be incorporated into comprehensive or community builder plans during review and update processes. A worksheet is provided to record what information from this plan is incorporated to other plans. The public will be involved in the implementation of hazard mitigation planning at city council meetings and public meetings. Mitigation actions and implementation strategies will be discussed and an opportunity for public input will be encouraged. A public planning process will ensure opportunity for public awareness of hazards and threats faced by the community and actions planned to eliminate or reduce impacts.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SERVICES Emergency management services for the City of Spencer are offered through the Clay County Emergency Management Director. The Emergency Management office is located in Spencer (County Seat) at 300 W. 4 th Street, Suite 6A. The city has an outdoor warning siren system in place. Another component of early warning awareness is storm spotter training. There are nearly 70

Clay County Iowa Emergency Management Agency’s mission is: To Prepare To Respond To Recover To Mitigate

trained SKYWARN group members in Spencer that coordinate officials during time of hazardous storms or other natural events. Amateurs are also involved with providing communications in times of need. i.e.: power outages, storm damage, and other natural or human caused incidents. FLOODPLAIN MAPPING The Spencer floodplain map has an effective date of September 30, 1978. The accuracy of the floodplain map is not correct as some properties in Spencer have inevitably elevated their land, raised dwellings or moved structures out of the floodplain. For instance, the U.S. Highway 18/71 bridge leading into downtown Spencer was replaced around 2005, which in turn may alter some flood way restrictions. With that stated, FEMA still recognizes the following map as the official floodplain map for the city, unless there are documentedmap amendments. The city not have a floodplain permitting and review process in place for the administration and compliance of persons wishing to obtain a permit to build any new building or structure within the designated floodplain. Persons living in

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NW Iowa Planning & Development