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

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MAY 23, 2005 QUARTERLY PUBLIC HEARING At the hearing, the BOCC referred the proposed ordinance to the Planning Board for review and comment. The Planning Staff provided the Planning Board with a copy of the proposed ordinance at their regular meeting of July 13. At the regular Planning Board meeting of August 3, 2005, the Planning Board reviewed the proposed ordinance, made several suggested revisions, which Staff has incorporated into the ordinance, and voted unanimously for adoption with designated changes as follows: 1. Sec. 42 -32 (b) wording changes, 2. Sec. 42 -33 moved forward and bolded for emphasis, 3. Accessory Building definition — added additional examples, 4. Areas of Shallow Flooding — differentiate between the AO and AH zones, 5. Floodplain definition — provide better differentiation between the various "flood" terms, 6. Post -FIRM / Pre -FIRM wording, 7. Riverine definition refined, 8. Salvage yard definition refined, 9. Substantial damage definition refined, 10. Sec. 42-40 wording, and 11. Sec. 42 -68 1. i. Additional wording provided. FORMAT OF CHANGES TO ORDINANCE Changes in various other Federal and State documents directly relate to the majority of the modifications to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance. The type of change is indicated on the document itself, and below is a summary of the intent or source of the modification: 1. Terminology changed from Mood hazard' to flood prone,' 2. Terminology changed from `Local Administrator' to ` Floodplain Administrator' and made terminology gender - neutral, 3. Language aligned with State and Federal definitions, 4. Language deleted, 5. Language aligned with North Carolina Flood Act of 2000 regulations, 6. Terminology changed from `development permit' to floodplain development permit, and' 7. New FEMA terminology Staff has added some additional text (as indicated) for clarification and applicability to Orange County. In addition, Staff has added comments made at the May 23, 2005 Quarterly Public Hearing. FLOOD DAMAGE AND STREAM BUFFERS For the past several years, Orange County has enforced both the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and Section 6.23.7 — Stream Buffers of the Zoning Ordinance. Both regulate floodplain development, but for new development, the stream buffer standards are more stringent in that any area within the buffer "must remain undisturbed in its natural state." A stream buffer "is an area of land adjacent to a stream or FEMA - identified floodplain, which ever is greater, ..." In every case, the stream buffer restrictions exceed those of the existing and proposed floodplain standards regarding new development. This is because the buffer regulations push back new structure locations at least 65 feet beyond the floodplain boundary.