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Kendall County OKs San Antonio River Authority interlocal to speed FEMA map and model reviews
Summary
The Commissioners Court approved an interlocal agreement with the San Antonio River Authority to perform conditional and final FEMA LOMR reviews locally; staff said reviews are faster, use standardized parameters and cost the county no additional money.
Kendall County Commissioners Court voted 5-0 May 13 to enter an interlocal agreement with the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) to have SARA conduct Local Review of FEMA submittals, including conditional letters of map revision (CLOMR) and letters of map revision (LOMR), on behalf of the county.
Jose Fernandez, an SARA engineering administrator involved in the LOMAR review program, told the court that SARA offers local review capacity, standardized modeling parameters across applicants, a shared database of hydraulic models and faster review turnarounds—typically two to four months faster than FEMA headquarters reviews. He said the arrangement does not change the FEMA application fee or FEMA’s ultimate approval authority; SARA’s work is intended to accelerate and standardize local review at no cost to the county.
Commissioner McCall and county staff asked whether SARA would add requirements or change community standards; Fernandez said SARA follows FEMA rules for the review and does not impose new requirements on the county. Staff agreed to add a link to SARA’s digital data modeling repository on the county website so local engineers and applicants can access model data.
The court approved the interlocal under the Interlocal Cooperation Act (Chapter 791, Texas Government Code) and directed staff to publicize the availability of SARA review services and the data repository to local stakeholders.
