The Piedmont City Council formally adopted an updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan at their regular meeting on March 2, a roadmap showing what Piedmont could do in the coming five years to reduce or avoid potential damages from natural hazards like earthquakes, wildfires, and severe weather.

The Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP):

• identifies the natural hazards that pose greatest risk to Piedmont
• documents how each hazard would be likely to impact Piedmont if it were to occur
• identifies and prioritizes actions the City and community could take now that would prevent or reduce those impacts

The document updates Piedmont’s first LHMP, which was adopted in 2019, to address evolving hazard threat and local conditions.

From seismic retrofits to building codes, draft LHMP identifies 30 priority actions to reduce risk

The updated LHMP identifies 30 total actions – 9 that were included in the 2019 LHMP and 21 new additions – that could help reduce risk to Piedmont, including:

• Strengthening resilience of IT infrastructure through redundancy and backup systems
• Retrofitting or replacing critical facilities to meet modern seismic safety codes
• Annual fire fuel mitigation on City property
• Strengthening local building and fire codes to require wildfire-resistant construction and more stringent vegetation management standards

Some of the identified actions, such as strengthening building codes and fire fuel mitigation on City property, have already been completed or are underway.

Including an action in the LHMP does not guarantee that it will happen. Rather, it positions the City to apply for state and federal mitigation grants that could support implementing that project.

Crafted over a year of research, discussion, and public engagement, the LHMP was submitted to Cal OES and FEMA for review in fall 2025. The City received notification in January 2026 that the document had passed review and was now eligible for Council adoption.

Learn more about the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan update process and read the adopted plan at piedmont.ca.gov/LHMP.