Nueces County reviews FEMA draft flood maps; staff to notify roughly 300 property owners and prepare technical rebuttals

Nueces County officials on Dec. 16 held a workshop-style briefing to review draft Federal Emergency Management Agency floodplain maps that county staff say add roughly 250–300 rural houses and several neighborhoods previously outside the regulatory floodplain.

Glenn Sullivan of the county’s public works staff told the commissioners that “the FEMA maps, draft maps are out there. The public can get access to them now,” and that the agency’s updated analyses allow staff to drill down to lot and house levels on interactive maps. Sullivan identified subdivisions the draft maps now include, such as Fiesta Ranch (about 80 houses) and Tierra Verde Unit 1 (about 17 houses), and said some areas previously in the floodplain are no longer shown as such.

Why this matters: placement on FEMA’s regulatory floodplain can trigger mortgage lenders’ flood-insurance requirements, change development reviews and affect long-term community planning. Sullivan said FEMA will host an open house on Jan. 14, 2016, at the American Bank Center and will open at least a 90-day comment and appeals window after that meeting. If FEMA adopts the maps following appeals, Nueces County would have six months to adopt the new maps into local regulations.

County staff described an outreach plan that includes posting interactive maps on the Public Works website, making full sets of maps available in county offices, and sending direct notices. “What I would like to do is a, send a letter to all the property owners that are affected,” Sullivan said, adding the county would issue notices in English and Spanish and coordinate with senior centers, school districts and city offices to reach affected residents.

Technical review and challenge: John Michael of Naismith Engineering, introduced by the court as a long-time partner on drainage work, cautioned commissioners against accepting draft maps as final. “Don’t take these draft maps as gospel,” he said, distinguishing floodways from floodplains and urging overlay of the county’s prior hydraulic models and local data to identify model errors. Michael and other participants suggested the county compile supporting data, invite local developers and engineers to review areas of concern, and prepare targeted challenges to FEMA’s modeling where discrepancies appear.

Next steps: Commissioners asked staff to produce neighborhood-level “bubble” maps that show concentrations of affected homes and to return with those materials and recommendations. Staff committed to having mapping resources available online and to provide hard copies for offices on request. The court also discussed using the Jan. 14 open house and the 90-day appeal period to collect evidence and submit corrections to FEMA.

The briefing did not include any formal adoption of maps; the court recessed into the workshop to receive the presentation and directed staff to bring back neighborhood-level information and a plan for outreach and technical review.