Agenda - 11-14-2017 - D.2 - Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and Zoning Atlas Amendments

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129 56 57 AGENDA ITEM 7: UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE(UDO)TEXT AMENDMENTS AND ZONING ATLAS AMENDMENTS 58 — FLOOD REGULATIONS - To make a recommendation to the BOCC on government-initiated 59 amendments to the text of the UDO pertaining to flood regulations and to remove the Special 60 Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)from the Zoning Atlas. This item is scheduled for the November 61 2017 quarterly public hearing. 62 63 PRESENTER: Michael Harvey, Current Planning Supervisor 64 65 Michael Harvey greeted the Board and began reviewing the presentation. Mr. Harvey reviewed the components of 66 the packet (beginning on page 19) and provided a little bit of background on flood regulations. In 1968, Congress 67 created the National Flood Insurance program. Orange County has been a member of the program since 1976. This 68 program is intended to provide a means for property owners to financially protect themselves from the possible 69 damage of structures resulting from flood events. Flood insurance supplements typical homeowners' insurance 70 policies which do not usually cover damage from a flood. Flood insurance is available to communities participating in 71 the program, and since Orange County is a participating, flood insurance is available to local residents. Participating 72 in this program means that a community adopts and enforces regulations (commonly referred to as Flood Damage 73 Prevention Regulations) designed to mitigate or reduce flood risk. This includes adoption of Floor Insurance 74 Regulation Maps (FIRM maps) denoting areas that are susceptible to flooding. Staff uses these documents to 75 evaluate the anticipated level of floodwaters during a storm event which allows Staff the opportunity to work with 76 property owners to plan for reasonable, viable development that will be reasonably free from inundation during a 77 flood. FIRMs are modified over time by the Flood Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reflect increases and 78 decreases in anticipated flood levels. Local communities like Orange County do not develop or maintain FIRMs; 79 these maps are maintained and modified by FEMA. While Orange County participates in the creation of these maps, 80 Staff does not do the studies, analyze data, create flood models, or make determinations with respect to what 81 property should and should not be included within a flood zone. Once communities are determined to be eligible to 82 participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, these communities are required to adopt FIRMs. Thus, if new 83 maps are not adopted, the County will no longer be eligible for participation in program, meaning flood insurance will 84 not be available to local residents. FEMA has finally approved new flood maps, a 3.5-4 year process that has 85 involved numerous revisions and modifications to the existing study. FEMA is also modifying its model floodplain 86 ordinances and established definitions and regulatory components. Orange County is obligated to adopt this in order 87 to insure consistency with FEMA policies and in order to preserve participation in the flood management program. 88 Staff is proposing to add new maps, enforceable once the BOCC acts on the proposed ordinance amendment. Staff 89 is also proposing to amend the Zoning Atlas to eliminate the Special Flood Hazard Overlay District. In 2007, the 90 County Planning Department was directed by the County Attorney (at the time) that flood regulation in and of itself 91 constituted a land use regulation tool, and as such, needed to be reflected on the Zoning Atlas, so the flood maps 92 were adopted and incorporated into the Zoning Atlas. However, as FIRMs change, Staff is obligated to continuously 93 update the Zoning Atlas. Now, in 2017, there is a new County Attorney who does not understand why Staff is 94 maintaining several different data sets in order to enforce FEMA flood map data, since the maps are the legally- 95 binding documents that the County has to observe. So, based on this reasoning, the recommendation is to eliminate 96 the Special Flood Hazard Overlay District. Staff is also to proposing updates to the ordinance that eliminate 97 inconsistencies that have existed for several years. Specifically, there are provisions that the state has encouraged 98 local communities to include, which Orange County did adopt, that would allow local government leaders (BOCC)to 99 issue waivers for certain activities to be done in the flood zone. Such uses would include solid waste facilities, 100 salvage yards and chemical storage facilities. This does not make any sense to Staff, and since the County is not 101 obligated to have it, Staff is recommending the elimination of this mechanism. The elected body should be given a 102 methodology to practically issue permits to develop in these areas. Staff is also recommending changes to update 103 compliance issues for consistency with state law. Specifically, bona fide farms located within extra-territorial 104 jurisdictions (ETJs) that are located within a municipality, like Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, do not have to 105 comply with towns'flood standards. By state law, they do have to comply with county flood standards. The effort is to 106 adopt the ordinance to be consistent with state law and to properly identify what the County does and not have 107 authority over. Staff is also updating existing definitions to be consistent with FEMA standards. There have been 108 some minor changes and tweaks to the definitions of design flood, Special Hazard Flood Area, and other related text 109 for FEMA's satisfaction. What impacts will these changes have?There are some properties where there has been an 110 increase in identified floodplain, meaning the property will be regulated under existing floodplain management