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Commission adopts first-reading ordinance updating floodplain code to align with state guidance
Summary
Consultant Dave Dixon briefed the commission on revisions to Chapter 32 to comply with Florida Department of Emergency Management guidance and to pursue better Community Rating System status. The changes remove a manufactured-home exemption and adjust freeboard language; commissioners approved the ordinance on first reading, 5-0.
Dave Dixon, the city's consulting planner, presented proposed amendments to Chapter 32 (Floodplain and Drainage Management) intended to align local code with Florida Department of Emergency Management guidance and to pursue improved Community Rating System (CRS) scoring that could lower National Flood Insurance Program premiums for affected property owners.
Dixon said the code updates remove an old manufactured-home exemption that previously allowed placement if elevated three feet; the revised language requires manufactured homes, if any were proposed in the future, to meet the same elevation requirements as other residential structures. He also noted that increasing freeboard (the height above the base flood elevation) is one of several code changes that can help the city improve its CRS rating and potentially yield premium savings for insured property owners.
"When that occurs, those folks who are required to have flood insurance, they would probably save somewhere between 10, maybe 15% on their premiums," Dixon said, describing the programmatic benefit of code updates. The commission approved the ordinance on first reading by unanimous vote; staff said FDEM had reviewed and signed off on the draft language.
