WINGSPREAD 98: A Community Vision for Sustainability

Direct Outcomes

City of Georgetown, Texas [reported by Bob Hart, City Manager]:

• Conducted workshop for City Council on incorporating hazard mitigation plan into day-to-day planning; staff is now taking such factors into consideration on land-use planning recommendations and decisions.
• Wingspread Principles are now included in our governance training.
• We are now an active participant in ICMA’s Environmental Small Communities Advisory Network and the ICMA Smart Growth Network.

U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA) & Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) [reported by Kent Lim, EDA]:

• EDA and FEMA have signed and enacted a Memorandum of Agreement for the cooperative development and delivery of disaster recovery and mitigation training, "Disaster Resistant Jobs Training." The MOA is based on the belief that the two agencies working together can "…make a significant and cost-effective contribution toward building the capacity of states and communities in hazard-prone areas to operate more effectively after a disaster and to become more proactive in safeguarding jobs and making essential public infrastructure more reliable before the next disaster." Putting this formal agreement in effect enhances both EDA and FEMA’s ability to positively affect attitudes and behavior toward safeguarding communities over time.

National Association of County Engineers(NACE) [reported by Floyd Lawrence, Colbert County Engineer, Tuscumbia, AL:

• In April, 1998 at their annual conference, NACE adopted a "Resolution on Disaster Preparedness: Building for a Sustainable Future." It included The Wingspread Principles:
  • Sustainability – Disaster mitigation and recovery resources should be invested to improve the quality of life in the areas of public health and safety, environmental stewardship, and social and economic security.
  • Planning & Incentives – Plans designed to reduce the impact of disasters and to encourage recovery should provide incentives to individuals, the private sector, and government to pursue sustainable development and redevelopment.
  • Partnerships – Individual citizens, the private sector, and local, state, and federal governments should act as partners with shared goals and values to further the capacity of our communities to be self-sufficient.
• Locally Driven Process – Decisions should be driven by a consensus-based, inclusive process that stakeholders use and trust. The process should identify local sustainability priorities, leading to the investment of pre-and-post disaster resources that will meet those needs, emphasizing the need for local responsibility and self-sufficiency.

The National League of Cities (NLC) [reported by Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed, City Commissioner Deerfield Beach, FL]:

• NLC will hold a session of Disaster Preparedness at its annual conference in December, and has already fully endorsed FEMA’s Project Impact: Building a Disaster Resistant Community.

Small Business Administration (SBA) [reported by Bernard Kulik, SBA]:

• As part of the Administration’s proposed FY99 budget, SBA has introduced legislation to use up to $15 million of its FY 99 disaster loan fund to make pre-disaster mitigation loans to small businesses in FEMA’s Project Impact areas. This would be done on the same subsidized basis that is now used for post-disaster recovery loans.

Community Outreach and Information [reported by Nancy Skinner, Daybreak International, and Bill Becker, DOE]:

• Along with Bill Becker, DOE, Nancy Skinner initiated a pre-disaster sustainable redevelopment planning process for a four-county watershed in West Virginia.
• Nancy Skinner has used regularly scheduled radio talk-show to promote sustainability, building disaster resistant communities and climate change, as well as speaking on these subjects at regional conferences.
• Mike Armstrong, FEMA & Bill Becker, DOE, addressed EDA’s regional conference in New Orleans on linkages between disaster recovery, mitigation and sustainable development. Bill Becker also gave a presentation on the Wingspread Principles to the 1998 Natural Hazards Conference in Boulder, CO.
• DOE’s Denver Regional Support Office has begun developing working partnerships between the Institute for Business and Homeowner Safety’s Showcase Communities, FEMA’s Project Impact, and DOE’s building retrofit programs, including Rebuild America.
• Mayor Shirley Dean, City of Berkeley, CA, published an article in "U.S. Mayor" [official publication of the United States Conference of Mayors] on "Building Disaster-Resistant Communities." The article is built around the Wingspread Conference ideas and includes a sidebar article on "Key Elements of the Wingspread Principles."
• The U.S. Conference of Mayors has adopted the Wingspread Principles as a guiding document in its own disaster mitigation efforts.
• The National Association of Counties has adopted the Wingspread Principles as a guiding document in its disaster mitigation efforts.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) [reported by Andrew Sachs, FEMA]:

(1) FEMA is in the late stages of developing a "Sustainable Development Desk", which will be utilized in the aftermath of select disasters to bring sustainable development expertise into the post-disaster environment. Officials staffing the Desk (representing various Federal departments and agencies) will help identify opportunities for applying sustainable development principles in the post-disaster environment, and provide sustainable development information and technical support to communities, the State, and others in the Disaster Field Office setting. It is anticipated that the Sustainable Development Desk concept will be utilized for the first time sometime in late FY 1998.

A member of DOE’s Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development team was deployed to FEMA’s Ohio and West Virginia flood response efforts to explore how best to deliver "sustainable redevelopment" information to flood victims and local officials. Options include establishing a "sustainability desk" at disaster response centers with written information and "for more information…" contacts.

(2) Mike Armstrong, the Associate Director for Mitigation at FEMA, Keith Laughlin, Council on Environmental Quality, and Bill Becker, Department of Energy, participated in a briefing called by the President's Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) to showcase the Wingspread Principles. Since the Wingspread conference, Mr. Armstrong has included the sustainable development message in his formal presentations to outside organizations, other federal departments and agencies, the Congress, and the White House. FEMA continues to have representation on the PCSD, and will support the Council's activities in this regard to the maximum extent possible.

(3) FEMA is working through its existing contracting mechanisms to encourage disaster recovery contractors to develop and/or identify staff with sustainable development expertise to assist with long-term recovery planning (as appropriate and necessary to meet specific disaster needs). FEMA and HUD have initiated early discussions regarding the use of existing sustainable development expertise resident in each agency to support community planning needs.

(4) FEMA has held numerous discussions with mitigation staff regarding the need to expand Regional Interagency Steering Committee (RISC) activities beyond response and recovery, to mitigation and sustainable development. In several Regions, early progress has been made. FEMA will continue its efforts to promote mitigation and sustainable development in RISC meetings across the country.

 

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