Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Floodplain Maps topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Allegany County officials warn towns to act after FEMA updates floodplain maps
Summary
County planning director Kier Durham told the Planning & Economic Development Committee that FEMA's updated floodplain maps change which properties are flood‑rated across many towns, that municipalities have six months to adopt new local flood-administration laws or risk losing program participation, and that some towns see large swings in structures affected.
Kier Durham, Allegany County's director of planning, told the Planning and Economic Development Committee that FEMA has issued new, more detailed floodplain maps that could change which homes and businesses are considered within flood zones and that towns will have to move quickly to respond.
"They were done with paper and pencil and rulers and probably slide rules," Durham said of the county's old maps, describing modern mapping methods that now use airborne scanning to capture topography and hydraulic data. He said the preliminary maps were released in December and that FEMA hosted a June 16 public session as part of the update process.
Durham emphasized the compressed timeline for local responses: the county is in a 90-day comment and appeal period that in practice is already shorter for many municipalities. Towns and villages will receive FEMA packets and a model local ordinance; according to Durham, each municipality has six months to pass an updated local flood-administration law or risk being removed from the county's flood management program, which could affect mortgage availability and insurance.
The county presentation included town-by-town estimates of how many structures are newly identified or removed from the floodplain under the new maps. Durham singled out examples: "Alfred went down 55 structures," he said, while the village of Cuba saw an increase of roughly 400 structures. He warned that "some communities are winners and some are not" and urged local officials to review the maps closely.
Durham said detailed appeals — for example, to challenge an elevation or a mapped panel — typically require an engineer to re-run hydrologic or hydraulic analyses and that small towns may lack the capacity or time to prepare such technical appeals within the comment window. "If you want to appeal something, you have to go through a very specialized analysis," he said.
Committee members pressed Durham on accuracy and timeline. He said he has not seen evidence that the new data are inaccurate but noted that municipalities may need to hire consultants to verify or contest specific panel results. He also described practical steps: the FEMA Flood Map Service Center will host the updated layers as they appear online, and county staff will share guidance and any FEMA notices as they become available.
Why this matters: Durham said 29 towns and 10 villages in the county will need to adopt new local ordinances and designate or confirm a local floodplain administrator. Failure to adopt the model law within the six‑month window could remove a municipality from the flood insurance and floodplain-management program, with downstream effects on property transactions and local planning.
Durham recommended that town supervisors and code enforcement officers review the handouts and online layers, and contact the county planning office for help. He said county staff would circulate the consultant's draft and follow up with municipalities and departments to collect comments and support next steps.
