Agenda - Planning Commission - 10/04/2012

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6-6E 3 ._� F -oy .: F rid-1:,_ •-t sg ar-,�gdF g-ra r �prE-- Ei,=i` e ! aii'w .F a host of federal, state, and local govern- ment agencies to support voluntary and mandatory measures that address wildfire risk. These efforts range from outreach and education, such as the successful Firewise Communities/USA recognition program, to the more recent Fire -Adapted Communities initiative, a major awareness campaign to increase public knowledge of resources and actions to reduce wildfire risk in the WUI. NFPA has also been building stronger connections with the planning and develop- ment community, seeing a significant oppor- tunity to influence the wildfire outcome through proactively planning for safer, more resilient communities. Very little research, however, has been done on the effective- ness of current land -use tools that planning professionals can employ as a means for reducing wildfire risk. With WUI fire risks rising and public budgets shrinking, NFPA embarked on a study to assess the potential effectiveness of using local regulatory and planning tools to address community wildfire risk. The ultimate purpose of the study, however, was not to provide an inventory of wildfire regulations used by local communities, but to identify how planners can (and should) become more active participants in keep- ing their communities safe from wildfire. Clarion Associates was hired to conduct the study because of its broad national practice and expertise in sustainable development practices including hazard mitigation and efficient public administration. The good news, as reinforced by the study's findings, is that the current tech- 4E tiakir r € E dE cF t* 1 � wigicitikgzEttkiElaTill Fis f..:i..iib : nical tools and approaches available for addressing wildfire risk, such as defensible space and fire-resistant roofs, are effective at protecting structures and lives if used appropriately. Planners can confidently rely on the proven work of professional firefight- ers, foresters, landscape architects, and others who have developed these tools to fight wildfire, many of which are published in model codes and are easy to find. g`MI ar 7e serve as advisors for the study. The.com- munities were selected to include a mix of geographic, demographic, and regula- tory environments and were located in the regions with the highest wildfire risk —the Southwest, Rocky Mountains, West Coast, and Florida. We then prepared a comprehensive inventory of the regulatory techniques used in each community to address wildfire risk. Few With WUI fire risks rising and public budgets shrinking, NFPA embarked on a study to assess the potential effectiveness of using local regulatory and planning tools to address community wildfire risk. The focus of this article will be on the lessons learned and regulatory implications of the study for planners, rather than a com- prehensive recitation of the raw data ora listing of all the wildfire -related techniques used in local codes, both of which are avail- able in the full report (www.nfpa.org/regula- torytools). We begin with an overview of the study's methodology and results. REVIEW OF WILDFIRE REGULATORY TOOLS Forty-two communities were initially selected fora targeted review of their local wildfire regulations. This selection was based on a literature review of current wild- fire regulatory issues and included input from a panel of technical experts formed to studies have collected this type of regulatory data in one place. Voluntary programs such as Community Wildfire Protection Plans or Firewise Communities/USA were not included in the research because our focus was on local regulatory controls (not advisory, volun- tary, or educational programs) and especially those in fire, building, and land -use codes. The inventory separated wildfire tools into one of four categories: 1) community scale, 2) neighborhood or subdivision scale, 3) individual lot scale, and 4) individual building scale. This approach provides a hierarchy of tools that allows planners to quickly assess and compare at what "level" each WUI tool regulates and to select the tools that correspond most closely with ZONINGPRACTICE 5.12 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Ipage3