Clatsop County hears FEMAupdates on draft flood-risk maps, levy accreditation and biological-opinion schedule

Gail, the county—s community development director, told the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners at a work session that FEMA released preliminary flood-insurance risk maps in July and a draft environmental impact statement tied to a FEMA biological opinion will be released for public comment this Friday, with the comment period closing on October 6.

The county—s planning director said the preliminary maps add new special flood hazard areas and velocity zones along the coast and in portions of Warrenton, Astoria, Tongue Point and Brownsmead. She said the proposed maps could add "over a thousand new structures to the special flood hazard area" and that the county—s fairgrounds would be assigned a base flood elevation of 12 feet; any new development there would have to be built at least 1 foot above that elevation.

The briefing underscored two related processes: (1) FEMA—s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and its schedule for public comment and final decision on a biological opinion intended to achieve "no net loss" of wetlands and floodplain function, and (2) FEMA—s ongoing mapping work and a separate, multistep levee-accreditation process that affects base flood elevations and building requirements.

Why this matters: The preliminary maps would impose additional building and elevation requirements in…