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Floodplain program update: county passed FEMA audit; HUD rule may prompt higher local freeboard
Summary
Floodplain staff reported no reported structural flooding this quarter, successful Community Rating System recertification and elevation certificates, and highlighted a new HUD rule requiring 2-foot freeboard for federally backed single-family mortgages that could prompt a local change from an 18-inch requirement.
Toby Lewis, floodplain program manager, told the Benton County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 7 that the county did not report any flooded dwellings or businesses during a recent wet period and that staff had completed several ongoing program tasks.
Lewis said the county passed its Community Rating System recertification audit in December and submitted three elevation certificates documenting compliance: one manufactured-home replacement, one single-family replacement and one substantial improvement. She explained that a ‘‘substantial improvement’’ can trigger a requirement to bring an older dwelling up to current county floodplain construction standards.
Lewis described a recent change in federal guidance under the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and noted that the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s rule effective Jan. 1 requires that ‘‘those dwellings will need to be built to 2 feet above the flood base flood elevation,’’ for new single-family and up-to-4-unit homes tied to FHA or federally backed mortgages. Lewis said Benton County’s local requirement is 18 inches but recommended the board consider whether to increase the local freeboard to match the 2-foot federal expectation.
She said the county has begun the process on National Flood Insurance Program/endangered-species-act interim measures and has submitted a pre-implementation compliance letter to FEMA as directed by the board; staff are awaiting final habitat-assessment guidance and will work to adopt code changes over several months. Lewis also described the Lucky Mutt Watershed Flood Map Revision Project, submitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to FEMA in December, and said FEMA had assigned a case number and coordinated review teams.
Commissioners and Lewis discussed the corps’ revised mapping work in the Kings Valley area and noted that revised mapping reduced the number of structures identified in the floodplain in that watershed compared with older maps. Lewis said cooperating-agency reviews have been substantial and included public-works and parks reviewers.
Ending: Lewis said staff will return to the board later if commissioners wish to pursue increasing the local freeboard requirement; no immediate policy change was adopted at the Jan. 7 meeting.
