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Council supports staff request to remove legacy irrigation alignments from draft FEMA flood map
Summary
Planning staff urged the council to ask the federal flood zone study to exclude several former irrigation-canal alignments that staff say are no longer present and have been mitigated by recent storm-drain upgrades; council consented to staff’s recommendation to request their removal to avoid unnecessary insurance impacts for homeowners.
Planning staff presented a draft FEMA flood-risk map that flagged several areas in Roosevelt because old irrigation canals were present on historical records. Staff said the mapped areas include canal alignments that no longer exist and locations where recent storm-drain upgrades have materially mitigated the risk. Planning staff recommended removing the highlighted areas from the federal study to avoid placing homes into a flood zone that local infrastructure improvements have already addressed.
Staff explained the trade-offs: inclusion in a FEMA flood zone would make flood insurance available but could also raise premiums for homeowners. As planning staff summarized to council, the recommendation to remove certain areas was driven by a combination of historical-map artifacts and the city’s infrastructure upgrades that fixed localized bottlenecks. Council members acknowledged the trade-offs and approved the planning department’s recommendation to petition the mapping agency to exclude the specified parcels, directing staff to follow through with the agency process and public notice as needed.
