City receives $24 million disaster mitigation grant, seeks public input on use

After receiving a $24,012,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for disaster mitigation, the City of San Marcos is including the public on how the funds are used.

According to a press release from the City of San Marcos, the funds are meant to be used specifically for preparation for disasters, unlike other grants which help with disaster relief.

“Unlike previous funds allotted for post-disaster relief, mitigation grants are specifically allotted to actions taken to proactively prevent or reduce damages resulting from disaster events,” the city stated a press release.

The city will hold a town hall on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the San Marcos Activity Center, 501 E. Hopkins to inform the public about the proposed projects to be funded by the grant, as well as receive input from residents.

Guidelines for use of the Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funding were released by HUD on Aug. 30, which allowed the city to begin planning.

“We have identified six priority actions which were established by a data-informed process by the City’s Office of Emergency Management in the 2018 San Marcos Hazard Mitigation Plan,” said Community Initiatives Program Administrator Aaron Harris in a press release. “Our goal is to start our planning analysis with the issues from this list that are the most important to the community.”

The six priority actions are:

• Establishing evacuation plans and improving routes;
• Disaster shelter improvements;
• Preservation of land in strategic upland and floodplain areas;
• Drainage improvements to properties that have been flooded multiple times;
• Improvements to flood and hazard warning systems; and
• Increasing the number of warning signs and barricades at low water crossings.

According to the city, staff will be on-site during the town hall to answer questions and will hold brief presentations at 12:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The community is also asked to voice their opinions regarding the use of the funds by filling out a brief survey that ranks each action by importance.

Surveys can be completed online at through Oct. 31. Paper surveys will be available at the front desks of the San Marcos Public Library, 625 E. Hopkins, and Activity Center, 501 E. Hopkins. All surveys are available in both English and Spanish.