The Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission was recently awarded a $44,050 grant to help create local re-entry plans for individual localities in the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck. The funding comes as part of a recent $7 million allocation of Homeland Security grants by Gov. Ralph Northam to enhance emergency preparedness and security throughout Virginia.

The re-entry plans are designed to provide uniform guidance for local jurisdictions addressing access into impacted areas following a disaster, according to Harrison Bresee, regional planner with the MPPDC.

He said the framework of these plans identifies roles and responsibilities intended to help support re-entry in a coordinated manner. They also provide guidance for region-wide coordination to support re-entry operations when a disaster impacts multiple local government jurisdictions that they may each initiate separate re-entry operations.

Under the plan, Bresee said each jurisdiction would maintain total control ov...