Volusia County staff review floodplain rules, federal programs and local requirements

Volusia County staff gave a detailed overview of floodplain management on April 2, reviewing federal mapping, state and local building-code rules, mitigation tools and ongoing watershed studies while urging board members to consider recommended ordinance changes at a future meeting.

Staff framed the presentation as a foundation for possible updates to local rules: “The flood plain is a flat area of land that's adjacent to a water source, such as a lake river stream, subject to, not only during a flood event, but times of heavy rain and high tides,” said Kelly Matter, chief plans examiner for building-code administration, who led much of the technical explanation.

The briefing covered how communities use FEMA’s flood insurance study and Flood Insurance Rate Maps to set Base Flood Elevations (BFEs), the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the voluntary Community Rating System (CRS). Matter described common local requirements, saying that the county and state require many structures’ lowest floors to be elevated at least 1 foot above the BFE and that detached accessory buildings larger than 600 square feet must meet elevation requirements.

Why it matters: staff said the county must balance older, pre-code development and new standards adopted after recent hurricanes. The county’s…