Walton City Council voted to join the 2024 Northern Kentucky Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan at its meeting Tuesday evening.
The Hazard Mitigation Plan acts as a tool to guide Northern Kentucky cities through preparing for hazards such as natural disasters and laying out a plan for individuals, organizations and local government to mitigate its impact.
Walton was presented with the plan at its last caucus meeting on Tuesday, March 5. City Attorney Michael Duncan recommended that the council approve it.
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It was coordinated by the Northern Kentucky Area Development District, a nonprofit planning and development organization, in partnership with the Kentucky Emergency Management Agency. It was prepared by members of the public, community agencies and academic institutions within an eight-county region in Northern Kentucky.
The Hazard Mitigation Plan specifically pinpoints potential hazards within each municipality in the region and lays out strategies to respond to them effectively or prevent them completely.
The newest version of the plan is broken into seven parts: a planning process, risk assessment, mitigation strategy, plan maintenance, plan update, plan adoption and high hazard potential dams requirements.
The eight counties – Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, Owen and Pendleton Counties – and 52 municipalities that comprise Northern Kentucky must agree to adopt the plan.Â
The last plan that was approved by all was the 2017 Hazard Mitigation Plan, which expired in August 2022. The new plan’s five-year approval period would begin the day that it is approved by all municipalities.