Leland council directs staff to draft tougher flood-plain rules, including expanded zones and higher elevation requirement

Town of Leland council members on Tuesday directed staff to draft changes to the town's Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance that would extend the ordinance's reach and raise building standards in areas at risk of coastal and storm flooding.

Planning staff presented data showing hundreds of existing and proposed residential sites in FEMA-designated risk areas and walked council through regulatory tools used elsewhere to reduce flood risk. After discussion about legal and practical trade-offs, councilmembers asked staff to prepare ordinance language implementing four of five options the town outlined: expand the ordinance into the 500-year (shaded X) risk area, increase the town's freeboard requirement to four feet, add limits on density in mapped flood areas and prohibit the use of fill to raise lots in the most vulnerable places. Staff will bring proposed language back to the planning board and council for review.

The move follows staff analysis prepared in January showing roughly 155 residential structures wholly or partly within the 100-year (A/AE) flood zones and another 131 structures in the broader 500-year (shaded X) areas. Planning staff told council there are about 450 lots in preliminary plat or…