Additional considerations related to the plan review and approval process include:
- Communicate with your SHMO early and often. Discuss with your SHMO whether it would be appropriate to share drafts or portions of the plan prior to a formal review to ensure the plan is complete.
- Keep stakeholders informed. The existing relationships you have with stakeholders, elected officials and government agencies are important assets during the adoption process. To promote adoption of the plan, brief community decision makers on the progress of the planning team’s efforts. When presenting the final draft for adoption, invite the planning team to the meeting. Ask supporting agencies to voice their support of the plan.
- Allow enough time. Build time into your planning process to meet state and FEMA procedures for review. Developing a scope and schedule for the planning process may involve a long timeframe for review, approval and adoption. Your local governing body may meet only once a month and may require agenda items to be submitted well ahead of time. FEMA gets 45 days to review the plan and require revisions.
- Make sure that your plan meets any additional state requirements. States may have regulations or requirements beyond what FEMA mandates. Make sure to keep these in mind to avoid any delays. State requirements and the presence of additional requirements vary state by state. These are noted in Element H of the Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool.