SELECTION CRITERIA

As part of the Parish Recovery Planning Tool (RPT) planning process, a project review team went through projects identified by parish teams to determine their relevance to recovery.  In addition they evaluated a projects ability to help jump-start a community's recovery from a natural disaster or incident of national significance. 

During this process, some projects were identified that, while viable projects in their own right, are not recovery projects. These projects are not currently included as a part of the Parish RPT and funding and implementation assistance should be pursued through other, more relevant funding sources.

Categories of Non-Recovery Projects
 
Hospital projects
Specific hospital projects were not included in the current plan because hospital capacity must be assessed for regional needs. As a prerequisite to including specific hospital projects in the Parish Recovery Planning Tool, a study of hospital capacity and needs for each region is included in the plan. Each Parish should submit Recovery projects based on the results of the study. Parishes should pursue specific mitigation or Public Assistance hospital projects through established FEMA programs.

Levee projects
Because of the damage from storm surge flooding in many parishes, elected officials and citizens have emphasized the importance of improved flood protection in many public meetings held as part of the long-term community recovery planning process. Often, increased flood protection is seen as a necessary step to spurring recovery of flooded areas. Levee projects are generally already in the process of being studied or executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, these levee projects fall outside the scope of the recovery planning process due to their inherent scope of work, magnitude, cost, timing and the regulatory process for these types of projects. This plan does not exclude levees from future consideration. Concerned citizens and the parish government are encouraged to continue their dialogue with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Louisiana as flood protection and security are enhanced across the state.

General Capital Improvement projects: Not related to recovery
Generally, local government entities are responsible for constructing and maintaining their public infrastructure - streets, sewers, water, and other structures. This public infrastructure needs regular maintenance and periodic upgrades or repairs on these systems and facilities. These public infrastructure projects should be included in the local government budget and capital improvement programs. Road widening and other roadway improvement projects may additionally be covered by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development’s State Transportation Improvement Plan.

Public Assistance projects: Direct storm damage repair
Much of the damage to public facilities caused by the storms will be covered under FEMA’s Public Assistance program, which reimburses parishes and municipalities for repairs and cleanup. These projects are not included in the Parish RPT unless they were part of a larger Recovery Project, but represent a significant part of the recovery of any community.

Hazard Mitigation projects: Avoiding future storm damage
In addition to direct repair, buildings and other structures damaged by storms should be repaired to a higher standard that will be more resilient to future storm damage. FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation program provides funds for removing structures from flood zones, buying out homes in the flood zone, and repairing to higher storm standards. Mitigation projects were not included in the Parish RPT unless they were part of a larger Recovery Project.