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TOWN OF MORRISVILLE
6-26
Reduce social, emotional, and economic disruption
Maintain critical facilities in a functional order
Protect infrastructure from damage
Limit legal liability of the government and public officials
Improve the ability to implement post-disaster recovery projects
Prevent water quality degradation
During the planning process, the Town reviewed numerous potential hazards, including
dam or levee failure, drought, earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes and coastal storms,
tornadoes, tsunamis, volcanoes, wildfires, landslides, nor’easters, and winter storms or
freezes. The Town’s level of vulnerability was ranked as being low for earthquakes,
landslides, hurricanes, and nor’easters. Vulnerability is high for tornadoes. Vulnerability is
moderate for severe winter weather, flooding, and wildfires (Town of Morrisville, 2010).
Along with other goals to address potential vulnerability and hazard threats, one of the goal
categories included in the plan is natural resource protection. Specific natural resource
protection goals included in the Hazard Mitigation Plan are to:
Minimize public and private losses resulting from flood conditions.
Reduce the impact of future natural disasters by regulating development in known high-
hazard areas.
Seek funding to reduce the risks of natural hazards to existing developments, where
hazards are clearly identified and mitigation efforts are cost effective.
Ensure that hazard mitigation is considered during redevelopment efforts.
Educate residents to protect themselves and their families.
Section III.B of the Hazard Mitigation Plan outlines mitigation provisions for natural
resource protection, which are designed to preserve and restore natural areas. Proposed
protection measures are floodplain protection, fire-resistant landscaping, fuel breaks,
erosion and sediment control, wetland preservation and restoration, habitat preservation,
and slope stabilization. This section also outlines possible structural mitigation projects
through modification of the natural progression of a hazard. Structural mitigation measures
include reservoirs, levees, diversions and detentions, and storm sewers.
The Town plans to use existing and future regulations to implement the identified
mitigation measures. These include the Town’s UDO, Water Conservation Policy, and Town
Code. Land use planning and the North Carolina State Building Code also will aid the Town
in minimizing and mitigating impacts from natural disasters. Mitigation goals are listed in
Section III.D of the Hazard Mitigation Plan. One mitigation objective is to preserve open
space in floodplain areas. When this is not feasible, the Town encourages appropriate
development that will pose minimal risks in these areas.
6.2.3.2
Floodplain Development Regulations
The Town complies with FEMA regulations. No fill or development is allowed in the
floodway, and for any development within the floodplain, the lowest floor elevation must
be at least 2 feet above the 100-year flood level. For streams that are not mapped by FEMA,