County planning office to pursue flood-plain code change after HUD/FHA freeboard increase

John Kinsey, McPherson County planning, zoning and environmental administrator, briefed the board on Dec. 9 that Housing and Urban Development / FHA now expects a 2-foot freeboard in flood-plain calculations, up from the county's current 1-foot practice. Kinsey said the new requirement is targeted to FHA loans and related programs and will take effect Jan. 1; he asked permission to begin updating county code and routing the change through state review, a public hearing before the planning board and back to the commission, a process Kinsey estimated would take roughly three months.

Kinsey also reported a separate administrative review finding: a number of past conditional-use resolutions, variances and special-use authorizations were not recorded with the register of deeds and in some cases were never published. County counsel recommended recording existing documents where appropriate; Kinsey estimated roughly $21 to $38 per recording plus publication costs and said staff will audit old cases, contact affected property owners and cover county costs for late recordings.

Commissioners asked whether the immediate effect would be to block certain FHA-financed projects; Kinsey said the change initially affects FHA loan requirements in flood-plain areas and that he will begin the formal code update and public-notice process so property owners and lenders have a path to compliance.

The board gave Kinsey direction to proceed with the code update and to bring the recommended changes back through the planning board and a public hearing before final commission action.