Troutdale planning commission recommends council adopt FEMA-driven floodplain habitat assessment requirement

The Troutdale Planning Commission on Feb. 12 recommended that the city council adopt a text amendment to Chapter 14 of the Troutdale Development Code that would add a “flood habitat assessment report” to the submittal requirements for all floodplain development permits.

City planning staff said the change responds to new FEMA pre-implementation compliance measures (PICMs) tied to the National Flood Insurance Program and a 2016 National Marine Fisheries Service biological opinion. Dakota Meyer, Associate Planner for the City of Troutdale, told the commission that staff selected a permit-by-permit approach that requires an assessment and mitigation plan for individual projects.

Staff said the proposed amendment inserts a new submittal requirement into Section 14.035(d) so that applicants for development in the 100-year floodplain must include a flood habitat assessment report that demonstrates “no net loss” to listed species and habitat values described by the biological opinion. Meyer said FEMA gave communities three pathways: prohibit development in the special flood hazard area; adopt a 2024 model ordinance that mandates mitigation to a no-net-loss standard; or require a site-specific…