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Attachment Six (6): Staff memo <br />MEMORANDUM <br />To: County Manager and BOCC members <br />From: Craig N. Benedict, Planning Director <br />Glenn R. Bowles, CFM <br />Date: March 16, 2009 <br />Subject: Clarification of Planning Board Comments Regarding <br />Maintenance to Private Roads and Farm Lanes <br />At the March 4, 2009 Planning Board meeting, the Board voted to recommend to <br />the BOCC approval of, with requests for additional work: <br />• Incorporating the amended FDPO text into the Zoning Ordinance text; <br />• Making bona fide farming operations subject to Special Flood Hazard Area <br />Overlay District standards, regulations, procedures, and definitions; <br />• Creating a new Zoning Overlay District -Special Flood Hazard Areas <br />(SERA); <br />• Affirming the various amendments to the FIRM (future SFHA Overlay <br />District) that FEMA approved on February 2, 2007; and <br />• Correcting definitions and references in the Subdivision Regulations to <br />reflect FDPO terminology. <br />One of the requests for additional work was a more definitive explanation of how <br />proposed Sections 6.32.6 & .7 of the Zoning Ordinance would affect <br />maintenance of existing private roads and farm lanes and field access roads. <br />The intent is to not overburden farmers and private road owners when road <br />maintenance is needed only for situations involving special flood hazard areas <br />(regulated floodplains). <br />Planning staff is presented with two challenges regarding roads built in regulated <br />floodplains: (1) how to regulate new construction and (2) how to manage existing <br />roadway maintenance issues such as resurfacing and culvert sizing. <br />New Construction <br />For all new road and/or bridge construction in regulated floodplains, staff will <br />require a "no-rise" or "no-impact" analysis, which typically will lead to a FEMA- <br />approved Letter of Map Revision. That process is described as follows: <br />/ Prepare detailed engineering drawings and hydraulic/hydrologic studies <br />for the stream crossing. <br />/ Submit to FEMA all required documentation and paperwork for a <br />Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR). <br />/ Review by FEMA and/or North Carolina Emergency Management - <br />Floodplain Mapping Program. <br />75 <br />