The Royal Palm Beach Village Council approved the final reading of a floodplain management ordinance last week providing procedures for development in flood hazard areas, although research by village staff has gotten most residential and commercial buildings off the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new floodplain map.
The latest version of the floodplain map reduces the number of buildings reportedly at risk of flooding from about 8,000 to approximately 600.
At the May 4 meeting, Councilwoman Selena Smith said residents she had talked with appreciated that village staff posted the maps online so they could see their individual properties.
The flood hazard map has been posted to the village’s web site at www.royalpalmbeach.com with a link on the left side in yellow titled “RPB Flood Zone Map.”
Councilman Jeff Hmara said he expected more feedback to come after the actual adjusted flood insurance rates appear over the next year.
Hmara complimented Village Engineer Chris Marsh, now also the village’s “floodplain administrator,” as well as village staff and other engineers and professionals who had worked to refute the previous inaccurate floodplain maps.
“They were dealing with other professional engineers who were focused exclusively on FEMA-type activities both through the FEMA representatives who showed up here two years ago, and also their consultant, all of whom were experts in this field,” Hmara said. “When Chris and some of the other engineers from various municipalities stood up and said the maps were wrong and way out of date, and we were pushed with a very short timeline, they were able to demonstrate very quickly that they were wrong, even if we didn’t immediately have the answer to what they ought to look like.”
Hmara was optimistic about additional work staff had done on the remaining areas to get them flood insurance discounts.
Marsh credited GIS Coordinator Jeff Sullivan for playing a key role in coordinating the new floodplain maps so that they are more user-friendly.
Hmara made a motion to approve the final reading of the ordinance, which carried 5-0.
In related business, the council approved a resolution implementing performance measures to achieve eligibility for the Community Rating System (CRS) for the remaining 5 percent of buildings in the village that remain in the FEMA flood hazard zone and whose owners will be required by mortgage holders to purchase flood insurance.
The CRS recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that reduce the possibility of flooding, Marsh said. Depending on the level of participation, flood insurance premiums can be reduced by up to 45 percent through proactive floodplain management.
“Based on my conversations with FEMA representatives, it takes time to achieve that goal,” he said. “They want to see years and years of using these steps as a basis for getting that rating.”
Many of the required steps are written into the floodplain ordinance, March said, explaining that as floodplain administrator, he will be making annual inspections of the floodplain areas to include seeing that new construction is at an elevation above the floodplain.
“We get extra credit for properly documenting that stuff and maintaining those files and making them available if we get audited,” Marsh said.
Other steps include mailing letters to utility companies advising them that areas are in a floodplain, and advising air conditioning contractors that the pad for the outside components in a floodplain must be elevated to a certain level.
“Our type of flooding is not as significant, so you’re talking elevated maybe six to eight inches on the side of the home for most of the properties in that special flood hazard area,” Marsh explained.
Construction of critical facilities will be prohibited in the flood hazard areas, he noted, adding that a public information committee will be created to assess community needs for flood-related information.
“The membership must have five members, with several from outside local government,” Marsh said. “Our preference is to have a local insurance agency and a representative from a local bank. That enhances our score.”
Hmara made a motion to approve the resolution, which carried 5-0.
