Maggie Valley planning board recommends approval of floodplain ordinance text amendment

The Maggie Valley Planning Board on April 15 unanimously recommended approval of a text amendment to the town’s Unified Development Ordinance that updates floodplain language and definitions and adjusts several technical requirements.

Town Planner Sam Cullen told the board the update is “mostly geared towards language and definition updates” and noted the ordinance introduces new FEMA zone labels (AE and AO) to replace older zone names. The amendment removes a prior requirement that mobile home parks maintain an evacuation plan and changes Base Flood Elevation (BFE) certification timing so certificates are required only at the start and at the completion of a project rather than mid-construction.

The changes carry practical consequences for property owners and insurers. Cullen said North Carolina Emergency Management recommends up to 4 feet of freeboard above the flood elevation. He said town staff had initially recommended a 2-foot freeboard but reduced that recommendation to a 1-foot freeboard “to prevent downzoning.” Cullen warned that HUD and FHA loan programs are beginning to require 2-foot freeboards and may deny properties that do not meet those higher standards, even if they meet the town’s ordinance.

Board member Chuck Cummings pressed staff on enforcement and timing for BFE certificates, asking whether a poured concrete pad found out of compliance could still be addressed. Cullen said Town staff will enforce the floodplain requirements and described site inspections and scenarios in which noncompliant structures were later required to be brought into compliance, including an example where a house had to be lifted after construction.

Regarding specific properties, Chairman Bill Sebastyn asked about houses in Wildbrook Village; Cullen said fill work and map revisions completed by previous and current owners have placed those houses out of the mapped floodplain.

Jared Lee moved to recommend approval of the text amendment; Chuck Cummings seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Lee then moved to recommend adoption of the consistency and reasonableness statement for the ordinance; Cummings seconded and that motion also passed unanimously. The Planning Board adjourned at 6:04 p.m.

Next steps for the amendment (such as any Board of Commissioners hearing or adoption schedule) were not specified in the meeting record.