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2 <br /> Thus the Zoning Ordinance amendments take on five (5) different aspects: <br /> 1. Incorporating the amended FDPO text into the Zoning Ordinance text; <br /> 2. Making bona fide farming operations subject to Special Flood Hazard Area Overlay <br /> District standards, regulations, procedures, and definitions; <br /> 3. Creating a new Zoning Overlay District— Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA); <br /> 4. Affirming the various amendments to the FIRM (future SFHA Overlay District) that <br /> FEMA approved on February 2, 2007; and <br /> 5. Correcting definitions and references in the Subdivision Regulations to reflect FDPO <br /> terminology. <br /> From time to time FEMA and its Cooperating Technical State partner, the State of North <br /> Carolina Division of Emergency Management, approve Letters of Map Amendment(LOMA), <br /> Letters of Map Revision (LOMR), and Summaries of Map Action (SOMA). Since the adoption <br /> of the new FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), which became effective on February 2, <br /> 2007, FEMA has approved five (5) LOMAs, four (4) LOMR, and one (1) Summary of Map <br /> Amendment. The primary objection FEMA voiced to the Orange County FDPO was that these <br /> corrections to the FIRM were not specifically listed in the ordinance. <br /> A LOMR alters the base flood elevation of the floodplain and the underlying Flood Insurance <br /> Study, by lowering or raising the elevation. It is required for any stream crossing or dam <br /> removal involving a mapped special flood hazard area (floodplain). LOMRs physically and <br /> legally alter FEMA FIRMs. The applicant must notify all surrounding property owners by mail <br /> and perform detailed hydrologic and hydraulic analyses to document the alterations. <br /> A LOMA is an acknowledgement by FEMA that the mapped floodplain does not reflect the true <br /> base flood elevation, as applied to a specific house or accessory building. They are applied for <br /> when a property owner believes his or her house, garage, barn, or other structure is <br /> inappropriately mapped within a floodplain. An elevation certificate is required to verify the <br /> owner's assertions. One of the results of the 2007 BOCC-funding floodplain surveying <br /> program is that four property owners were able to receive LOMR approvals that effectively <br /> removed their houses from a mapped floodplain. The FIRM and the underlying Flood <br /> Insurance Study does not change, but the flood insurance status for the house or accessory <br /> structure does. In the case of the Cates Creek Parkway FIRM, before the engineer could <br /> determine the correct hydrology and stream hydraulics for the new stream crossing, the flood <br /> mapping data had to be corrected. <br /> Keeping all FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps updated and current is an important <br /> maintenance and public information task. Orange County is interested in the latest SOMA only <br /> because the FEMA FIRM panel letter suffix has changed and this affects that portion of the <br /> FIRM panel within the County's zoning jurisdiction. <br /> For informational purposes only, an update of County floodplain activities, which includes <br /> enforcement activities, elevation certificate surveying progress final report, recent <br /> neighborhood meetings, and recent enforcement activities is included in Attachment 4. <br /> Notification letters (Attachment 7) to both affected property owners and property owners within <br /> 500 feet of an affected property were mailed out on Friday, February 6, 2009. This is a <br /> requirement of our zoning amendment notification process (Section 20.6.3). Because of the <br />