Jaimie Hicks Masterson is Program Manager for Texas Target Communities at Texas A&M University and a researcher on the Coastal Resilience Center project “Local Planning Networks and Neighborhood Vulnerability Indicators,” led by Principal Investigator Dr. Phil Berke. Masterson writes with an update for the integration of the Resilience Scorecard element of the project, which measures when and where their community plans are in conflict, as well as how well they target areas of the community that are most vulnerable.


Testing
the Scorecard

Location of League City, Tex., relative to Houston. Photo via houstonproperties.com

Location of League City, Tex., relative to Houston. Photo via houstonproperties.com.

We have selected the first pilot community, League City, Tex., and will begin training this month. We began discussing the opportunity with the city in April 2016. The city discussed the project with key stakeholders, such as city staff, city council members, the planning and zoning commission and the emergency management office to seek approval to move forward. This city is a good fit because of:

  • Their exposure to sea-level rise and the 100-year floodplain.
  • The potential for strong networking of multiple local government agencies to influence plan quality and integration.
  • They will soon begin a comprehensive plan update and assessment of all development regulations. The city would like to utilize the Resilience Scorecard to determine priority policy changes.
  • It provides a small/medium-sized city (pop. 88,000) perspective in a politically conservative context.
The waterfront in Norfolk, Va. Photo via norfolkvisitor.com

The waterfront in Norfolk, Va. Photo via norfolkvisitor.com.

Our second pilot community is Norfolk, Va. We were connected to them through consultants at AECOM (an engineering firm) and feel training private-sector consultants might offer another avenue and perspective to validate the Scorecard. The planning staff and emergency management office is on board with the project and it fits nicely with existing initiatives. Norfolk is a good fit because of:

  • Their exposure to sea-level rise and the 100-year floodplain.
  • Their pursuit to be a “model community on resilience.”
  • Their upcoming Vision 2100 Plan, which will be approved to begin in November.
  • The potential for strong networking of multiple local government agencies to influence plan quality and integration, particularly across jurisdictional lines.

Validating translation with practitioners

Over the first several months, we “translated” the research methodology for practitioners into a user-friendly guidebook. To validate the tool, we invited subject matter experts to participate on an advisory board, composed of hazard planning practitioners from the newly formed Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery Planning Division (HMDR) within the American Planning Association (APA). We conducted three video webinars with national members on May 16, July 14 and Oct. 17, 2016. Advisory board members have given our team invaluable guidance, including:

  • “The organization of the guidebook is effective for practitioner’s use. For instance the checklists, boxes, chapter openings recommended skills are great. The resilience section is also good and really helps put things into context.”
  • “Overall you are right on target with this and the flow is good.”
  • “I like that [the scorecard] is getting at aggregate vulnerability. I really like where you have specific examples that communities can relate to. The plan comparisons and policies are helpful.”
  • “It is important [for practice that you are tracing] back to the policy.”
  • “I think this is something that would incorporate well with what FEMA is already doing.”


Recruiting vulnerable communities

Dr. Phil Berke's project includes, clockwise from left, Jaekyung Lee, Matt Malecha, Siyu Yu and Jaimie Masterson. Not pictured: Dr. John Cooper.

Dr. Phil Berke’s project includes, clockwise from left, Jaekyung Lee, Matt Malecha, Siyu Yu and Jaimie Hicks Masterson.
Not pictured: Dr. John Cooper.

After the Scorecard guidebook was validated by practitioners, we began recruiting vulnerable cities as potential pilot communities to test the Scorecard and guidebook. We utilized connections with the HMDR division of APA. The president, Barry Hokanson, sent an email newsletter to more than 400 members and posted the opportunity on group website and LinkedIn.

Because of the outreach with HMDR, we were able to connect with many communities, non-profit organizations and companies interested in the Scorecard. We presented the Scorecard to practitioners representing 30 communities at the Model Forest Policy Program (MFPP) monthly webinar on Sept. 1, 2016. The MFPP is a national non-profit that helps communities throughout the U.S. create climate adaptation plans. We received very positive feedback and interest from communities on all coasts and as far away as Alaska:

  • “It sounds like a really interesting and useful project!”
  • “We were just impacted by a hurricane and we are no stranger to flooding issues in general. We have taken great strides with respect to sustainability and resilience over the years, and would like to test our network of plans integration.”

The outreach approach directly impacted the selection of our pilot communities, discussed above.

Next, we will begin training our pilot communities with the Scorecard guidebook. While the communities are already gathering plans and policies, we plan to travel to the cities to guide them through a half-day training and answer any initial questions. We will hold monthly webinars to check the progress of their evaluations. In January, we will host a peer summit where pilot cities can share and learn from each other. In June of 2017 we will host a second peer summit to conclude the pilot community project. Communities with learn best practice strategies to integrate plans, identify “low-hanging fruit” and investigate obstacles to plan integration for resilience within their political contexts.