Hazard Mitigation in the Town of Clarkstown
Under the leadership of Supervisor Alex Gromack and the Town Board, Clarkstown formed the Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee and joined the Rockland County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Planning Project, making the Town compliant with the U.S. Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.
K. Luke Kalarickal, Director of the Town’s Department of Environmental Control, and Clarkstown Police Officer Keith Garrabrant, the Town’s Emergency Management Coordinator, are the local representatives for the Town of Clarkstown and serve on the ‘Core Planning Group’ of the Multi Jurisdictional Planning Project.
The primary purpose of a hazard mitigation planning project is to identify community policies, actions, and tools for implementation over the long term that will result in a reduction in risk and potential for future losses as a result of natural hazards.
All state and local governments are mandated to have hazard mitigation plans approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be eligible for certain types of federal disaster mitigation project funding. Further benefits are a combined use of resources and expertise and the ability to address items on a large scale, which can result in reducing the costs and effects of hazards.
Town DEC Director Kalarickal and P.O. Garrabrant gathered, reviewed and forwarded the following information/data/documents, as requested, to the County:
- Records regarding history of natural disasters and other hazardous events within the Town;
- Previous hazard mitigation measures implemented;
- Flood studies;
- Emergency response plans;
- Comprehensive plan;
- Land development regulations, flood plain ordinances, and zoning ordinances;
- Open space plan;
- Stormwater management plan;
- Completion of the Lands Uses and Development Trends Questionnaire; and
- Other additional documents and forms as requested.
The following members of the Clarkstown Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee continue to work on issues of concern with the County of Rockland, URS consulting, and the State Emergency Management Office:
Clarkstown Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee
Amy Mele, Esq., Town Attorney
Jose Simoes, Town Planner
Peter Beary, Building Inspector
Cathy Conklin, IAO, Town Assessor
William Withington, GIS Coordinator
K. Luke Kalarickal, P.E., P.L.S., DEC Director
Keith Garrabrant, Clarkstown Police Officer, Emergency Management Coordinator
Wayne Ballard, P.E., C.S.P., Highway Superintendent
Aimee J. Vargas, Esq., Committee Chair, Director of Finance |
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Route 59 in front of Palisades Center, West Nyack, Sept 1999,Tropical Storm Floyd |
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Klein Ave, West Nyack, April 2007 Nor Easter. |
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Virginia St. and RT 304, New City, August 2008 after heavy rain storm. |
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Hackensack River, West Nyack, December 2008 after heavy rain storm. |
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