Orange County NC Website
z <br />8. Post-FIRM /Pre-FIRM wording, <br />9. Riverine definition refined, <br />10. Salvage yard definition refined, <br />11. Substantial damage definition refined, <br />12. Sec. 42-40 wording added, and <br />13. Sec. 42-68 1. i. Additional wording provided. <br />Wording, which was removed, is denoted with strikethroughs, Section 42-91 was revised fo <br />note that plastic material is not considered a petroleum product for the purposes of materials <br />allowed to be stored within floodplain areas, <br />Orange County has developed a series of regulations to prevent building activity in its flood- <br />prone areas, as well as to preserve the environmental attributes. Even though Orange County <br />has been a leader in floodplain management through its work in planning, erosion and <br />sedimentation control, lands Legacy, and building inspection divisions, the County has not <br />availed itself of federal programs that would financially recognize our efforts through insurance <br />rate rebates and other grant opportunities, <br />Orange County first became a participating community in the National Flocd Insurance Program <br />(NFIP) in 1975 and entered the regular FEMA-NFIP on March 16,1981 with the adoption of a <br />flood damage prevention ordinance, This is the same effective date far the Flood Insurance <br />Rate Maps (FIRMs), The BOCC last revised the present ordinance in 1995. The County <br />adapted its original soil erosion and sedimentation control standards in 1975 and its Neuse <br />River Basin stormwater regulations in 2001 and stream buffer restrictions in 1994, In short, <br />Orange County has a long, documented history of comprehensive land development <br />regulations focused on our water resources and stream corridors. <br />On June 18, 2004, North Carolina floodplain Mapping Program staff scheduled a preliminary <br />map meeting at which time they presented new preliminary FIRM panels and Flood Insurance <br />Study (FIS) Report to the County for the Neuse Basin streams, The new FIRM panels altered <br />the existing floodplains, expanding them in some areas and decreasing them in others. The <br />new elevation reference (NAND 1983) is about 0.7 feet different from the original reference <br />(NGVD 1929), plus hydrologists used better topographic data, <br />The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has designated the State of North <br />Carolina as a Cooperating Technical State (CTS). The State has assumed primary <br />responsibility for the FEMA NFIP mapping for all North Carolina communities, including Orange <br />County. North Carolina floodplain Mapping Program has prepared new FIRM panels for the <br />Cape Fear and Roanoke Basin streams in Orange County. They are now available from the <br />Planning Department. <br />The County's interest in the proper management of floodplain areas has fostered an interest in <br />the FEMA's Community Rating System (CRS) through the National Flood Insurance Program <br />(NFIP), which provides federally flood insurance backing to private property owners, CRS is a <br />voluntary program for local government to encourage, enact, and enforce floodplain regulations <br />and documents, as well as past and present county regulatory history, which could take our <br />efforts to a higher level or compliance and awareness, The CRS recognizes and encourages <br />floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements, As a result, <br />flood insurance premium rates can be discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from <br />