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342 <br /> Staff has completed the required mailing for the October 4, 2017 Planning Board <br /> meeting. Additional notification will be sent for the public hearing before the Board of <br /> County Commissioners, which will occur in November of 2017. <br /> It should be noted the County is required to adopt the new FIRMs and revise existing <br /> flood regulations accordingly by November 17, 2017 in order to continue to be eligible to <br /> participate in the NFIP. If we do not accomplish this task, and are suspended from the <br /> NFIP, local property owners will be unable to procure flood insurance for their <br /> properties. <br /> The remaining information is designed to address basic questions about this project: <br /> Why is the County doing this? <br /> As indicated above we are required to adopt the new FIRMs in order to remain eligible <br /> for participation in the NFIP. This enables local property owners purchase flood <br /> insurance and be eligible for disaster relief aid/grants to address damage from a storm <br /> event. <br /> Will I have to purchase flood insurance? <br /> While there is no County regulation compelling the purchase of flood insurance, the <br /> Flood Disaster Act of 1973 and the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 <br /> mandates the purchase of flood insurance for all federal or federally related financial <br /> assistance for the acquisition and/or construction of buildings within a floodplain. <br /> The mandatory purchase requirement also applies to secured loans from such financial <br /> institutions as commercial lenders, savings and loan associations, savings banks, and <br /> credit unions that are regulated, supervised, or insured by federal agencies such as the <br /> Federal Reserve. <br /> Depending on your mortgage status, there may be a need to purchase flood insurance <br /> based on a parcels location within an identified floodplain. <br /> Can the County modify the FIRM to take my property out of a Special Flood <br /> Hazard Area? <br /> Unfortunately we are unable to provide this service. In order to amend a FIRM, a <br /> property owner would have to initiate the process with FEMA. <br /> If a property owner thinks their property has been inadvertently mapped in a Special <br /> Flood Hazard Area, they may submit a request to FEMA for a Letter of Map Change <br /> (LOMC). As a reminder a SFHA is defined as the area that will be inundated by the <br />