ORD-2005-127 - Revisions to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance

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4. Avoidance of economic disruption and human suffering, 5. More comprehensive environmental protection, 6. Orange County can evaluate the effectiveness of its flood program against national benchmarks, 7. Added incentive to maintain other watershed protections, 8. .Enhanced quality of life, and 9. Qualification for certain federal assistance programs. In a coordinated effort with the new FIRM preparation, FEMA and the North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) — Mitigation Division are encouraging Orange County to participate in the CRS program. On December 14, 2004, letters under the County Manager's signature were sent to the Region IV FEMA Community Mitigation Program and to the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, Floodplain Management Branch to, "Initiate the formal process to participate in the NFIP's CRS." In response to the County's initiative, FEMA responded with a letter to confirm a Community Assistance Visit (CAV) during the week of February 21. As a follow up to the letter, FEMA Region V and NCEM staff scheduled a CAV on February 22 and 23. The last CAV was on June 21, 1995. A summary of the CAV recommendations include the following three items: 1. Orange County should adopt the revised flood damage prevention ordinance. (The State of North Carolina has drafted a model ordinance, which would re -enact and continue the existing law. Staff has adapted the NC model to the existing ordinance text.) 2. Within the basic flood zone, County zoning and building inspectors should require base flood elevation (BFE) and lowest floor elevation (LFE) data for each new structure and repair and expansion of existing buildings, and require a surveyed plot plan to establish building improvement locations and elevations, if floodplains are involved. 3. Develop specific administrative procedures to deal directly with substantial damage to flood -prone structures and to complement the existing procedures described in the flood damage prevention ordinance. Through this CRS process, staff has initiated several small projects to improve the County's ability to administer its regulations and educate the public regarding floodplain regulations. These actions include the following: 1. Within the Orange County website, under Current Planning, flood elevation certificates are available, as well as, instructions to complete the document and the county flood damage prevention ordinance. 2. Staff now logs in all relevant floodplain information inquiries. 3. Forms to respond to formal floodplain data requests. 4. A floodplain insurance data form for hand out to any interested citizen. 5. The 2004 Neuse Basin floodplain maps for Orange County are now a layer in the Planning Department GIS. 6. The 2004 Neuse Basin and Cape Fear Basin floodplain maps for Orange County are now available for viewing in the Planning Department's map room.