The Village of Niles Board of Trustees unanimously adopted the Cook County Multi-Juristicational Hazard Mitigation Plan.
The plan was put together by Chicago-based Tetra Tech consulting company on behalf of the Cook County Department of Security and Emergency Management. The plan was based on input from the department, as well as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and over a 100 Cook County municipalities, including Niles. Adopting this plan will make it easier for the village to work together with the county and other municipalities to address natural disasters. But perhaps most importantly, it will allow the village obtain grants for disaster-mitigating projects, such as the flood mitigation projects that haven’t been funded yet.
The final version of the Hazard Mitigation Plan, which was completed in Sept. 10, 2014, sets out to address flooding, severe winter and summer weather, as well as what it describes as less pressing, but still potentially devastating hazards. Those include, in order of likelihood of occurrence, tornadoes, earthquakes, dam failures and droughts.
The plan sets out steps to address potential disasters for Cook County in general and for each municipality specifically. For Cook County, the plan calls for CCDSEM to develop “disaster intelligence capacities” to help the county and its municipalities better respond to natural disasters. It calls to create a single template for emergency response plans, developing an infrastructure security program, improving and expanding Cook County Emergency Response Team program, improving outreach to county residents, reviewing county disaster shelters, improving the county evacuation plan and completing county-wide mass notification system. It calls for incorporating WebEOC event reporting software into county operations. Finally, it calls for more coordination and cooperation between governing bodies throughout the county.
For Niles in particular, the plan incorporates the village’s existing disaster prevention initiatives. That includes the flood mitigation projects and the flood control assistance program. It calls for supporting purchase, relocation or retrofitting of structures that are located in hazard-prone areas. It also calls for updating the village’s emergency operations center, organizing and training the Community Emergency Response Team, doing more to educate village residents about disasters, as well as ensuring that other village planning effort takes the Hazard Mitigation Plan into account.
More Top Picks Best Fidget Toys For Classrooms
Adoption of the Hazard Mitigation Plan is expected to make it easier for Niles to obtain state and federal grants. The plan makes obtaining funding for flood mitigation project the biggest priority, noting that while the costs are high, the benefits will outweigh the expenses on the long run.
The plan also laid out how much property damage significant natural disasters could cause throughout Niles. A 10-year flood could cause a total of $2,064,350 worth of damage, while a 100-year flood could cause a total of $3,355,831 worth of damage, and a 500-year flood could cause total of $18,839,219. While tornadoes are less likely to occur, the property damage they would cause would be far more severe, costing between $174,407,181- $185,729,009.
The Village Board adopted the agreement quickly and without many comments. In the run-up to the vote, former trustee Louella Preston spoke in support of the agreement.
“I hope you approve it,” she said. “It’s a good example of inter-governmental cooperation.”
Igor Studenkov is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press