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Council hears first reading of updated floodplain ordinance tied to new FEMA maps
Summary
City staff presented a full rewrite of the floodplain ordinance required by FEMA; the updated rules must be effective before FEMA’s new flood-insurance maps go into force April 23, 2025.
City staff presented the first reading of an ordinance that would restate the city’s floodplain regulations to align with updated Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood-insurance study (FIS) and flood-insurance rate maps (FIRM) that become effective April 23, 2025.
John Thompson, Public Works Director, told the council the rewrite is mandated by FEMA to maintain the city’s participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Thompson said the city must adopt the updated ordinance before FEMA’s new maps take effect and that FEMA has provided a courtesy review of the draft language.
Thompson described the ordinance as a full restatement of the city’s floodplain ordinance and said key changes include recognition of the updated FIS/FIRM, designation of the city engineer as floodplain administrator, a defined permit process for floodplain development, clarification of stop-work orders and penalties for noncompliance, and increased freeboard requirements for manufactured homes (raising the freeboard requirement from 0 to 2 feet). He said the rewrite follows FEMA’s template language to achieve compliance.
On the new FEMA maps Thompson said the floodway widens in a northwest portion of the city and a 100-year (1% annual chance) floodplain appears in the south-southeastern area, which brings some properties into the regulated floodplain that were not previously mapped. He noted that 12 properties that had prior Letters of Map Amendment/Correction (LOMA/LOMC) may be affected and that staff has directly contacted property owners with existing LOMAs whose status will change when the new map is effective.
Council members asked procedural and technical questions about update frequency, who received direct notice and implications for property owners now mapped into the floodplain or floodway. Thompson and staff advised that the regulation change aims to promote public health and safety, control development that would increase flood risk, and preserve compensation-storage and other controls already discussed with council in previous sessions.
Thompson said staff will return for a second reading and public hearing on March 25; if approved, the ordinance becomes effective after final publication and prior to FEMA’s effective date.
