Floodplain Ordinance Amendment and Related Public Information and Assistance Process

CITY OF WOODBURY, MINNESOTA

Office of City Administrator

Council Letter No. 10-09

January 13, 2010

TO:	The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

FROM:	Clinton P. Gridley, City Administrator

SUBJECT:	Floodplain Ordinance Amendment and Related Public Information and Assistance Process

SUMMARY

The City of Woodbury joined the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in February 2001. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed a preliminary countywide Flood Insurance Study (FIS) and Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) over several years that were released in December 2007. After eight years of work to produce the final FIS and FIRMs, FEMA released the final FIS and FIRM on August 3, 2009 and notified the City that within six months from that date the FIS, FIRMs and appropriate ordinances must be adopted. Upon approval by Council, the City’s FIS and FIRMs will become effective on February 3, 2010; six months from the date the City received the Letter of Final Determination from FEMA.

FEMA requires all properties within a floodplain zone to obtain mandatory flood insurance. The floodplain determination is based on the FIRMs. Mandatory flood insurance is very costly. Parcels that are in the floodplain, but have structures that are outside of the floodplain can be exempted from the mandatory flood insurance requirements by going through either an “out as shown” determination or the Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) process.

Slightly more than 500 parcels are included in the flood hazard zones shown on the FIRMs; approximately 460 of these parcels are residential properties. The remaining properties are utilities, commercial properties and large rural or agricultural properties. City staff has proposed a public information and assistance plan that will help property owners understand the program requirements and assist them in obtaining the appropriate documents for their lenders and FEMA as necessary. While the City does not need to provide this information and assistance to residents for a federal program, Council has previously indicated that the City should provide assistance to residents at the beginning of this program.

In addition, FEMA requires that communities adopt appropriate floodplain regulations by the effective date of the FIRMs and FIS. City staff has prepared a floodplain ordinance appropriate for the City of Woodbury and consistent with federal regulations. The City received conditional approval of the ordinance from the DNR on December 22, 2009. The existing ordinance text in Chapter 25, Floodplain, will be deleted in its entirety and replaced with the new floodplain ordinance language. A public hearing on the ordinance will be held at the January 27 Council meeting and published in the February 3 issue of the Woodbury Bulletin to satisfy the deadline set by FEMA.

RECOMMENDATION

City staff recommends Council review the ordinance language in Chapter 25, Floodplain. A public hearing on the ordinance will be held at the January 27 Council meeting. In addition, staff would like Council to provide input on the proposed public information and assistance program.

BUDGET IMPACT

The budget impact of adopting the floodplain ordinance and the public information and assistance program should be minimal. There will be mailing costs associated with notices for resident meetings. There will be significant Engineering and Community Development staff time associated with the program, especially in the first half of 2010.

After an initial six month period of assisting residents at no charge, staff is proposing a fee be charged to residents for floodplain zoning materials including the necessary map for an “out as shown” determination or the processing of a LOMA.

PUBLIC PROCESS

The preliminary FIS and FIRMs were discussed at the January 16, 2008 Council workshop. FEMA, along with the DNR, held a public open house on the maps on January 23, 2008 at the Washington County Government Center. There was also an official 90-day comment period on the FIS and FIRMs that ended on July 22, 2008. The City did submit comments during that period as recommended by Council at the March 31, 2008 Council meeting.

The proposed future public information and assistance program to help residents that will be affected by the new FIRMs is outlined below.

Notices will be sent to property owners that are affected by flood hazard zones shown on the FIRMs. The letter will explain the flood insurance program, notify the property owner that their parcel is affected and invite them to an informational meeting hosted by the City.

Two to four resident meetings will be held in late February/early March, as well as a meeting for commercial property owners. At the meetings, City staff will have aerial photos available for all addresses to assist with an “out as shown” map determination. In addition, staff will have LOMA forms available. If residents choose to proceed with the LOMA process, they will be asked to complete the appropriate areas of the LOMA form and return to City staff for processing of the remainder of the form.

For residents who do not attend the meetings, staff will mail letters with additional information, LOMA forms and aerial photos.

City staff will provide to homeowners, free of charge, maps and information necessary for completing LOMAs through the end of July. Starting in August, staff proposes charging a fee associated with the work necessary to process FEMA related items.

BACKGROUND

The final FIS and FIRMs produced by FEMA will become effective on February 3, 2010. Slightly more than 500 parcels are included in the flood hazard zones shown on the FIRMs, and 460 of these parcels are residential properties. The remaining properties are utilities, commercial properties and large rural or agricultural properties.

An entire parcel is considered within the flood hazard zone if it is either wholly or partially covered by the zone. If the buildings on these parcels are encompassed (low building elevation is below the calculated 100-year flood elevation) by the flood hazard zone, the owner is required to purchase mandatory flood insurance. If the structure is outside of the 100-year flood elevation, the property owner has the option of pursuing an “out as shown” determination or filing a LOMA with FEMA to be exempt from the mandatory insurance requirement.

An “out as shown” determination is made when a property owner can provide their lender with an aerial photo that shows the flood hazard zone in relation to the structure and it is clear that the structure is outside the flood hazard zone elevation. This process is quick and often sufficient for lenders to determine that flood insurance is not required. There is no formal recording of this information, so the City may need to provide this information to property owners multiple times.

The LOMA process allows homeowners to request a revision to the FIRMs when it can be proven that structures are above the 100-year flood elevations. There is a formal application that is completed and sent to FEMA. FEMA records this information against the property address. A certified survey of the structure elevations and an opinion rendered by a registered surveyor, engineer or architect that flood elevations will not endanger structure or contents is required with the application. The City Engineer could render this opinion if the property has the appropriate information available in City records. This information would include two-foot contours, aerial photos, building permits and certified lot surveys. This process is more time consuming than the “out as shown” determination made from an aerial photo but would only need to be completed once since the information is recorded by FEMA.

By mapping contours and the flood hazard zones on aerial photos, it appears that a significant number of the structures on the 460 parcels are located above the 100-year flood elevation. Actual building elevations will need to be reviewed to determine the exact number.

City staff has proposed a public information and assistance program to help affected property owners. Staff will assist homeowners that need documentation to show structures are outside of the floodplain. Property owners will need to make the decision if they will pursue an “out as shown” determination by their lender or process the LOMA application through FEMA.

City staff will stress to property owners throughout the process that while we are providing a service to them that will allow them to opt out of costly mandatory flood insurance, we encourage them to review the flood insurance options that are available to all properties within the City at a reduced cost in comparison to the mandatory flood insurance costs.

FEMA also requires that communities adopt appropriate floodplain regulations by the effective date of the FIRMs and FIS. FEMA and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have stated that without the appropriate ordinance in place by February 3, the City of Woodbury will be suspended from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). If a community is suspended, no flood insurance policies can be written or renewed within that community. Suspension also prohibits federally funded or regulated mortgage loans from being processed. This prohibition would affect virtually all mortgages within the City.

Starting with a strict model ordinance developed by the DNR for floodplain regulations in MN that meets all FEMA requirements, staff worked for over four months to prepare a floodplain ordinance that was appropriate for the City of Woodbury and was consistent with federal regulations. The DNR’s original model ordinance included sections with regulations regarding rivers and streams. Extensive rewrites of the model ordinance were necessary for Woodbury, where only lake and wetland flood hazard zones are shown on the map.

The ordinance establishes floodplain zoning districts including the Floodway and Flood Fringe districts; provides permitted and conditional uses for the districts and standards for the uses; provides information related to the floodplain for subdivisions, public utilities and manufactured homes; establishes an administrative process for floodplain issues and a penalty process for noncompliance. The City received conditional approval of the ordinance from the DNR on December 22, 2009. The conditional approval requires that the ordinance, as written at the time of the DNR letter, be adopted with no changes to the text.

PROJECT SCHEDULE

February 2001	City joined the National Flood Insurance Program.
December 2007	City received the preliminary FIS and FIRMs from FEMA.
April 2008	City submitted comments on FIRMs to FEMA
August 3, 2009	City received Letter of Final Determination from FEMA
February 3, 2010	Deadline for City adoption of floodplain ordinance, FIS and FIRMs
March 2010	Resident informational meetings will be held
August 2010	City will begin charging fees for processing FEMA related requests

Written By:	Sharon Doucette, Environmental Resources Coordinator
Approved Through:	Klayton Eckles, Engineering and Public Works Deputy Director
Attachments:	Chapter 25, Floodplain

The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council