11-23-12

Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal — The Road to Recovery — November 23 - December 6, 2012 — 17C T he R oad to R ecovery

www.marejournal.com

By Andrew Goldberg, CR, WLS, RestoreCore Is your multi-family community prepared for a disaster?

N

o one ever wants a disaster to occur, but that doesn’t mean

‘disaster plan’ and a ‘disaster implementation plan’. Often, disaster plans are lengthy, cumbersome, and make it challenging to find neces- sary information. A disaster implementation plan is short and concise and gives the most important essentials actions. Update your plan at least once a year. The benefits of having a plan. Nearly every decision is thought out in advance, so when a disaster strikes, you are able to move forward immedi- ately, which is beneficial to all parties involved. You are much more likely to make better deci- sions, since they’re planned for in advance, that can greatly decrease the time and increase the ease to recover from a disaster. All management, employees, and residents will understand the order in which the recovery will progress. This makes it easier to cope with one of the most difficult parts of a disaster, the emotional loss. If you don’t have a plan in place. You’ll spend most of your valuable time trying to figure

out what to do, instead of doing what actually needs to be done. You’ll be reactive, instead of proactive. Additional stress will be placed on the management, employees, ownership, outside contractors and residents. A lack of planning can result in delays and poor decision mak- ing that could put life and prop- erty at unnecessary risks. Having a plan helps restora- tion professionals help you. After a disaster, when the RestoreCore team shows up to a community with a good disaster plan in place, we often find the property managers sit- ting around a table with their disaster plan open, and calmly following the instructions that they were able to craft when the world was not crashing in around them. You can tell everyone is familiar with the plan, and the management, the staff, and the residents all have a clear understanding of how to proceed. It’s night and day working with clients who don’t have a disaster plan, and those who do. And, it’s much easier to quickly and effectively

help multi-family communities recover when everyone knows how to move forward. Keep communicating. Crisis communication is a vital com- ponent of the plan. Each prop- erty management company should determine who their designated spokesperson is, and what message they wish to get out for different scenarios. In addition, look for ways to leverage social media and other technologies. This will ensure that all your residents know where to look for up-to- 2. The number of dwelling units or parking spaces is not increased. 3. The area covered by build- ings, concrete, or asphalt is not increased . (D) Beach and Dune Restora- tion & Maintenance Communities and private property owners that have a gen- eral permit or individual CAFRA permit to perform beach and dune maintenance may conduct the following activities without

date information following a disaster. Disaster planning is a mind- set that starts at the top of the organization and becomes part of the organization’s culture. The biggest advantage of hav- ing a disaster plan in place is the message you send to your community and your staff. It communicates that you know what you are doing and that you are prepared. Andrew Goldberg, CR, WLS is president of Re- storeCore. n additional land use permits: 1. Bulldozing of sand from the lower beach profile (above the low water line) to the up- per beach profile to restore the beach berm width and eleva- tion 2. The transfer of sand along the beach (borrow areas are not to be scraped deeper than one foot) 3. The temporary placement of concrete, rubble, or sand-filled geotextile bags or tubes (seaward continued on page 20C

you shouldn’t plan for one. Thought ful and careful preparation is the great- est defense aga i ns t an unexpected i s s u e , and

Andrew Goldberg

will serve to protect you, your community, your tenants, and their belongings in the case that something should happen that compromises your multi- family community. RestoreCore has put together five steps to ensure your disaster plan is fool proof, and assist you in learning why a plan is so essential. Have a disaster plan in place. Have all important and critical information on hand in an easy to access location. Train your entire team – even test your disaster plan at a time when life and property is not actually at stake to ensure it functions properly. There is a big difference between a

continued from page 16C State of New Jersey’s recovery after . . .

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