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Seismic Safety and Safety Element

The County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan contains a number of maps and updated data which serve as the primary guiding document regarding public safety in the event of natural disasters. This project updates the Seismic Safety & Safety Element to reflect the policies of the County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan for natural events that apply to urban fire hazard, fault lines, emergency evacuation routes and emergency response planning as required by State and Federal law.

Summary

The Seismic Safety & Safety Element establishes policies to protect the community from natural and manmade hazards. It is intended to guide land use planning by providing pertinent data regarding geologic, soil, seismic, fire and flood hazards. This element also includes the Safety Element supplement which describes land use planning measures to reduce the risk of public exposure to acutely hazardous materials associated with oil and gas pipelines and fixed facilities.

AB 162 Compliance

AB 162 was signed into law by the Governor of California on October 7, 2007 and the requirements of the bill have since been codified as Government Code Section 65302. The law states that when a local jurisdiction updates its Housing Element on or after January 1, 2009, a jurisdiction also must:

Update its Safety Element to:
Identify, among other things, information regarding flood hazards and to establish a set of comprehensive goals, policies, and objectives, based on specified information for the protection of the community from, among other things, the unreasonable risks of flooding.

Update its Conservation Element to:
Identify rivers, creeks, streams, flood corridors, riparian habitat, and land that may accommodate floodwater for purposes of groundwater recharge and stormwater management.

In response, Long Range Planning is making updates to the County’s Safety and Conservation Elements to establish compliance with AB 162, as well as revisions to the Land Use Element which are intended to keep the County’s Comprehensive Plan internally consistent. The draft text of these updates can be located here.