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Thurston County planning panel weighs broader flood mapping, fears for residents who could be barred from rebuilding
Summary
The Planning Commission reviewed options to use maps beyond FEMA for frequently flooded areas and debated trade-offs between stronger flood protections (and CRS insurance discounts) and the risk that stricter rules could prevent low-income residents — especially in mobile-home parks — from repairing or replacing damaged homes.
Thurston County’s Planning Commission on Feb. 4 discussed whether to expand the county’s approach to mapping frequently flooded areas beyond FEMA flood-insurance maps and how to balance stronger flood protections against harm to residents living in existing flood-prone neighborhoods. Claire Swearingen, the staff presenter, said FEMA flood-insurance-rate maps are the regulatory baseline but noted counties can incorporate other data — including high-groundwater maps, flood-of-record mapping and channel migration-zone analyses — to better capture local flood risk.
Why it matters: altering the maps or the county’s Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) could change what development is allowed in flood zones and affect insurance and rebuilding rights. Staff told the commission Thurston participates in FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS) and currently holds a high CRS rating (a “2”), which produces discounts for policyholders; staff…
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