Public invited to Citizen Advisory Committee meeting on flood mitigation funding

June 20, 2022 | Local News | From The: Ocracoke Observer

Image from the 2917 Hurricane Matthew Resilient Redevelopment Plan, available on the RebuildNC.gov website.

The state Citizen Advisory Committee for HUD Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation funding will hold a virtual public meeting from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, June 22.

The public is invited to attend the first public meeting of this group that will advise the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) on the implementation of the Community Development Block Grant for Mitigation, including the Strategic Buyout Program.

Committee members are chosen to represent individuals living or working in areas of North Carolina defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as “Most Impacted and Distressed” (MID) by Hurricanes Matthew and/or Florence, as well as those with relevant technical and industry experience.

Islander Kelley Shinn is a member of the committee. She said the committee was formed to build trust between citizens and the government and get input from local people in towns that have been devastated.

“When Roy Cooper came to Ocracoke on the back wind of Dorian, he not only listened, he heard us,” Shinn said. “Under his leadership, NCORR had already been developed to address the complex challenges of disaster recovery in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, then Florence. There is no easy fix, and of course, as with any new trauma, the healing isn’t a straight course, nor one without unintentional missteps, but the CAC seems to be just one more way that Cooper’s administration is doing its best to listen and to hear community members who have seen devastation first hand on how best to help them on a path toward resiliency, and to set a better course for many others in the state that will be susceptible to disruption and possibly displacement with the increase of climate disasters.”

Those wishing to attend should register online at: https://bit.ly/CACmtgJune22.

HUD has made a total of $202 million in funding available to North Carolina for mitigation activities.

The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, a division of the state Department of Public Safety, administers programs that include long-term disaster recovery, buyout, resiliency, affordable housing, infrastructure and pandemic relief, among others. Learn more at ReBuild.NC.Gov.

The state also is seeking comments on these resiliency plans.