Agenda - 12-11-2007-6d - Laserfiche WebLink

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permission to enter private properties for 78 surveys, including the Government Services Center Annex in Hillsborough. Forty-six structures, which were once within mapped floodplains, are now confirmed to be outside the floodplain. Four of the surveys indicated that the structure(s) is physically outside of the base flood elevation (BFE) elevation contour and will require a Letter of Map Amendment (COMA), which is an application for a single residential lot or structure amendment to the National Flood Insurance Program maps. Staff has prepared the documentation and the surveyor has signed and sealed the forms. From personal conversations with the participating residents, at least three owners were paying flood insurance premiums and now will not have to continue in the insurance program. Another situation the program revealed was that a request for "map maintenance" from the State Floodplain Mapping program is warranted. A recent improvement to a stream culvert under Brandywine Road in the Heritage Hills Subdivision may not have been taken into account when the new mapping was complete. To re-petition to become eligible for the CRS program, FEMA has requested that the County survey a significant number of structures formerly in a mapped floodplain. The County has attempted to comply with this request and will provide elevation certificates for all but one structure in newly mapped floodplain areas and for over forty structures built after 1981, which were erroneously placed within mapped floodplains. Such certificates can only be completed through collaboration between a professional, licensed Land Surveyor and the Orange County Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM). Just recently, staff received an invitation to apply for FEMA hazard mitigation grants. The timing for the grant request coincides perfectly with the completion of the elevation certificate survey work. Staff now has the technical documentation to prepare, with BOCC approval, a grant request to assist owners of flood-prone structures to retrofit and improve the structures to comply with the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance. Most retrofitting would involve installing hydrostatic vents in the crawl space walls, elevating central air units, and/or moving or deconstructing accessory buildings. The grant could also be used to make improvements to the Government Services Building Annex on Cameron Street. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The consultant has been paid just over $17,000, of the $26,660 budgeted for the program. The work, as contracted, is essentially complete, and the County is awaiting the final invoice. Seventy-nine (79) elevation certificates are complete. There will be approximately $2,110 unencumbered from the awarded contract. It is initially estimated that approximately $40,000 total is needed to address all situations in Orange County. The FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program requires atwenty-five (25%) percent local match. A portion of the local match could be re-allocated from the unencumbered elevation certificate program funds. RECOMMENDATION: The Manager recommends that the Board receive the report and direct staff to pursue the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant and finalize all documentation prior to the January 11, 2008 FEMA a-Grant deadline for the Manager's signature.