Planner presents updated floodplain ordinance; commission forwards measure to council

Rebecca Cottle, a planner with Deb Cohen and Associates, told the Pierson Planning Commission the Florida Department of Emergency Management directed the town to update an existing 2014 floodplain ordinance and relocate it into the land development code.

"We were directed by the Florida Department of Emergency Management to update an existing flood plain ordinance that the town had already adopted in 2014," Cottle said, and she summarized that the changes include updated federal and state definitions and a revised market-value definition tied to professional appraisal standards and FEMA's substantial-damage calculations.

The presentation noted that FEMA issued a more recent flood insurance study in September 2017 and that some definitions (for example, manufactured home, light-duty truck, and park models) were revised to match federal and HUD standards. Cottle said the updates are intended to make local code language consistent with state and federal requirements and are not expected to impose new costs on the town because they reflect existing regulations.

Commission members asked how the statelevel Senate Bill 180 affects the ordinance. Staff and the presenter said SB 180, as discussed, broadly limits local governments from adopting rules that are more restrictive than prior standards for a year after a hurricane is declared, which has required some other cities to repeal newly imposed post-storm restrictions. "It seems pretty broad," Cottle said about the bill's scope.

After discussion, the commission considered Ordinance 2025-09, described in the meeting as incorporating Ordinance 2014-01 into the Unified Land Development Regulations, and voted to forward the ordinance to the town council with a recommendation of approval. The commission's action will send the ordinance to council for formal consideration.