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Planners consider expanding 10-foot elevation allowance to 500-year floodplain to boost resilience
Summary
Staff proposed allowing the county’s 10-foot additional allowable height for elevated structures to apply in 500-year floodplains as well as regulated flood hazard areas; resilience planner Lee Duncan warned it could encourage building closer to flood-prone zones and staff will consult the fire marshal and refine safeguards.
At a Pender County Planning Board workshop, staff outlined a proposed text amendment to expand the county’s existing 10-foot elevation allowance so it could be used voluntarily in 500-year floodplain areas to improve flood resilience.
Lee Duncan, Pender County’s resilience planner, summarized the technical rule and the policy trade-offs: “If you go 4 feet above the base flood elevation plus the 2 feet of freeboard, you can have an extra 10 feet of house height.” Duncan said the allowance is intended to enable property owners to elevate structures to reduce recovery costs and insurance exposure.
Board members supported the resilience goals but raised concerns about unintended incentives. Duncan and other staff warned the provision can encourage some property owners to site homes in less-regulated floodplain areas to obtain additional height and view benefits. Members also asked staff to consult the fire marshal about rescue and building-safety implications if maximum heights were raised countywide.
Staff said the amendment is intended to align measurements and definitions across the ordinance and that they will research safeguards — for example applying the same rules used in regulated special flood hazard areas — and return with refined language for board review and comment before forwarding to the Board of Commissioners.
