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Planners review floodplain ordinance updates, debate higher standards on fill, freeboard and cumulative improvements
Summary
City planner introduced model-code amendments required for NFIP participation and several optional higher standards: a 10-year cumulative substantial-improvement calculation, tighter limits on aesthetic fill in the flood hazard area, classification of mixed-use buildings with residential units under residential standards, and raising V-zone freeboard to 1.5 feet. Commissioners requested clearer benchmarks, enforcement detail and public outreach before hearings.
City planner Tapia presented proposed flood hazard overlay amendments to the Planning Commission and explained the packet included both mandatory model-code changes needed for compliance with the Oregon model flood-hazard ordinance and optional higher local standards the commission could recommend.
Tapia told the commission the packet’s model-code changes are intended to keep Rockaway Beach eligible for the National Flood Insurance Program and to clarify roles and documentation (floodplain administrator duties; base flood elevation and elevation certificates). He emphasized the city’s updated FEMA maps (adopted in 2018) and said that changes in blue in the draft indicate model-code text required for compliance. "Any changes to the proposed amendments ... could result in the city not being in compliance, and jeopardize NFIP participation," Tapia said.
Tapia described four significant optional higher standards staff is proposing for commission consideration: (1) changing the substantial-improvement test to a 10-year cumulative calculation so repeated smaller projects that add to more than 50% of a structure's market value would trigger mitigation; (2) prohibiting the use of fill for landscaping or purely aesthetic alterations in special flood hazard areas (excluding access or structural fill); (3) classifying multi-use structures that include residential units under residential flood standards; and (4) increasing the freeboard requirement in the VE (coastal) zone from 1.0 foot to 1.5 feet to account for projected 20‑year sea-level rise and rounding conventions in coastal maps.
Commissioners and participants asked detailed questions about benchmarks and enforcement: which market value is used (structure-only, not land), whether permit-estimate budgets will be validated against final costs, how the city would track cumulative improvements over the 10-year window, and whether small garden projects or mulch would trigger permits. Tapia said the structure-only valuation would be determined with the Tillamook tax assessor information and that the 10-year period would start when the ordinance is adopted (not retroactive). He also said staff will refine permit thresholds and outreach before the August evidentiary hearing; notices to property owners in the flood hazard overlay zone are planned to be mailed by July 16 with the first hearing expected on August 20.
The commission generally supported clearer maps and explanatory materials for the public, and several commissioners encouraged staff to define practical thresholds (cubic yards, small gardening exceptions) to avoid unnecessarily onerous permitting for routine homeowner activities. Tapia agreed to refine language and provide clarifications at the August meeting and to coordinate required notices to DLCD and property owners.
