Page 86 - Plano, TX Heritage Preservation Plan

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

Description
Preparing a community for natural disasters is crucial for all planning efforts.
The City of Plano is vulnerable to a number of natural disasters, including
drought, floods, severe storms, hail, wind, hurricane remnants, tornadoes, and
extreme heat. In order to prepare for these natural disasters, the City of Plano’s
Department of Emergency Management plans for all types of events and
coordinates with other groups throughout the city to be ready to effectively
respond to a disaster.
Great Fire of 1895
In the case of a natural disaster that impacts multiple municipalities and
Likely Types of Disasters to counties, and even disasters that may be of historic proportions, the State of
Prepare for: Texas Division of Emergency Management becomes involved, and follows
• Tornado • Hail the Texas Emergency Management Plan. Natural disasters that cause severe
• Fire • Extreme damage and impact large numbers of people are also often assisted by a
• Flooding Heat variety of other regional, state, and national organizations. For instance, the
• High Winds response to Hurricane Harvey in 2017 included relief assistance from numerous
organizations including the Department of Health and Human Services
National Trust Insurance (HHS), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the
Services Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Small Business Administration
• The National Trust for Historic (SBA), the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, and
Preservation offers historic property the American Red Cross.
insurance. To learn more, visit the
following weblink:
https://nationaltrust-insurance.org/ In the event of a natural disaster, the City of Plano’s many heritage resources
could sustain reparable damage or irreparable damage, or potentially be fully
Planning for Natural Disasters destroyed. To effectively protect heritage resources, it is crucial for a list of
heritage resources that may be in danger following a natural disaster to be
• Plano Department of Emergency
Management created, plans to be in place to quickly assess heritage resources immediately
https://www.plano.gov/ following the disaster, and for potential funding resources to be identified.
• Texas Division of Emergency
Management
https://www.dps.texas.gov/ Summary of Issues
• Texas Emergency Management Plan A Plano’s heritage resources could be severely impacted by natural disasters
http://www.dps.texas.gov/ and specific plans are not in place to evaluate and address them post-
• Office of Environmental Planning disaster.
and Historic Preservation (FEMA)
https://www.fema.gov/ A Property owners lack education on how to protect their historic properties
from natural disasters and what to do in the event of a disaster.

Disaster Preparedness Policy Statement
Provide tools, education and funding opportunities to protect Plano’s heritage
resources from natural disasters and address preservation emergencies.

Recommendations
A Develop a plan to address preservation emergencies due to natural
disasters, including expedited Certificate of Appropriateness review
following an emergency.
A Educate property owners about additional insurance protections that
Repair of the wooden shingle roofing on the Ammie may prevent the loss of historic resources due to financial hardships
Wilson House is an example of typical repairs resulting from a natural disaster.
covered by the National Trust insurance policy.

86 Preservation Plano 150 NOVEMBER 2018