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County seeks ordinance update to keep residents covered by flood insurance after FEMA map changes
Summary
Staff proposed changing the Unified Development Ordinance's flood-map effective date to 06/10/2026 to match updated FEMA/FIRM panels near the Guilford and Stokes county lines; staff warned failure to adopt could jeopardize flood insurance coverage for affected properties.
Chris Murphy told commissioners that the second UDO text amendment under discussion updates the ordinance's effective date for FEMA flood-insurance rate maps (FIRM panels) from the prior date (cited as May 2009 in staff materials) to the new effective date, 06/10/2026. "If we don't adopt this, it's my understanding that folks' flood insurance could be in jeopardy," Murphy said, explaining that some panels along the Guilford and Stokes County lines changed and the county must acknowledge the new panels in local ordinance language to protect insurance eligibility.
Murphy said the change responds to state-provided map updates and that staff are on a compressed schedule — they only learned of the need in late June with a mid-August deadline — so staff coordinated simultaneous city and county submissions and asked commissioners not to pose technical mapping questions to him because subject-matter experts (e.g., Keith Huff) were scheduled for a companion meeting.
