03-11-10 Planning Comm. Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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BFEs established for your community. This is an important consideration for new construction because building at a higher elevation can greatly reduce the cost of flood insurance. Ordinance Update. The City of Little Canada's existing floodplain ordinance is located in Section 916 of the City Code. Staff has been in contact with and has been working with DNR staff on the ordinance update process. In order for the City to come into compliance with the updated federal regulations, the City of Little Canada revise the model Floodplain Ordinance according to the City's format. By following the model provided by the DNR, the appropriate references to the revised FIS report, reference to the six updated FIRM panels that include the City of Little Canada; and the floodplain management regulations will meet the standards of the NFIP regulations (44 CFR, Section 60.3). The main formatting difference between the existing and model Ordinance (besides the legislation updates and FIRM updates) is that the existing Ordinance divides the overall Floodplain District into three districts: floodway, flood fringe, and general floodplain. The model Ordinance divides the Floodplain District into only two districts: floodway and flood fringe. The two district ordinance is appropriate for communities like Little Canada that only contain lakes and wetlands (no rivers). An "administrative floodway" concept is utilized in the two district ordinance, meaning that the floodway is the actual bed of the lake/wetland (at or below the ordinary high water mark). In other circumstances, where rivers are present, the floodway could be above the OHWM. In addition to including an administrative floodway for lakes, the model Ordinance also scales back the conditional uses allowed in the floodway. This is because when the floodway of a lake is confined to the area at or below the OHWM, many conditional uses usually allowed in floodplain ordinances are no longer applicable (ex: accessory structures) as they would be prohibited to be placed below the OHWM anyways. For example, the existing ordinance standards allow accessory structures in the floodway district (as a CUP) - if the floodway is administratively defined as the actual lake bed, then an accessory structure would not be allowed to be built there anyways. So, there is no point in listing items, such as accessory structures, as conditionally-permitted in the floodway district. RECOMMENDATION After consulting with the DNR staff and reviewing the existing and model ordinances, staff would recommend adopting the model DNR Floodplain ordinance for several reasons. Most importantly, the model ordinance is already compliant with the NFIP regulations and includes references to the recently-updated FIRM panels and FIS report. 2