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Council hears options to remove 19 parcels from floodplain maps; consultant gives cost estimates for group LOMA
Summary
City consultant described elevation surveys, elevation certificates and the letter of map amendment (LOMA) process for 19 properties flagged in the city’s flood map review, and presented grouped cost estimates that could save property owners money if the city coordinates the work.
The city could pursue elevation surveys and FEMA filings that would remove some properties from the floodplain, a consultant told the council during an update on the 2024 flood map review. Shane Waterman described a three‑step technical approach — survey lowest adjacent grade, determine base flood elevations from the FEMA model, and prepare FEMA elevation certificates as the basis for a LOMA (letter of map amendment).
"We can do survey work to establish what those lowest adjacent grades are," Waterman said. "Then after that, you take that information and you create what they call an elevation certificate ... and if everything meets the criteria, then those properties would be able to go into the LOMA." He emphasized the distinction between a LOMA (no fee) and a LOMR or LOMA based on fill: if landform changes are involved there can be fees ($425 individual or $800 for multiple properties, as he described them).
Why it matters: properties removed via LOMA are documented as not being in the floodplain and typically are relieved of the federal requirement to purchase flood insurance when mortgage rules apply. The consultant cautioned that FEMA may still deny requests; he described three likely categories for the 19 properties: those clearly too low to be removed, those clearly above the flood elevation, and a gray middle group that might need additional fill or mitigation.
Cost estimates presented to the council showed per‑property survey and certificate costs and potential savings from a grouped approach. Waterman said individual property owners hiring engineers would face a general range of $1,900 to $2,500 per property; a bundled approach the city could coordinate would cost about $27,000 for all 19 properties (around $500 per property for surveys, and $450 per property for elevation certificates and FEMA submission), yielding roughly $9,000 in combined savings compared with all owners acting individually.
Council members asked whether properties outside the city limits or farther east toward the park were included; Waterman said the primary list’s easternmost parcels included the spot building and the house across the street and that he would double‑check whether additional parcels were mistakenly omitted from FEMA’s list. He also advised that the city’s updated flood map takes effect later in the year but that the LOMA process is a record‑level amendment (it does not change the map itself, he said) and that there is no automatic acceptance by FEMA.
No formal council action was taken; the presentation was informational. Waterman recommended the first step — coordinated survey work and elevation certificates — to determine which properties could realistically be removed by LOMA and to create durable documentation for owners.
