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HomeMy WebLinkAboutELEVATION REQUIREMENTS City of Port Arthur Department of Planning Memo To: Floyd Johnson, City Manager From:Paul Brown, Senior Planner f,g3 CC: Ron Burton, Director of Planning Date: 4/26/2013 Re: Elevation Requirements The City's requirements for new house elevation are demanded by the National Flood Insurance Program administered by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We are required to enforce the FEMA guidelines in order for the City and its residents to continue to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program and the associated Community Rating System Program. The City's failure to enforce the regulations would result in the inability for potential house buyers in the city to qualify for home mortgages, all of which would require flood insurance to qualify for federally- backed mortgages or for any type of federally- funded home program. The CRS program allows the city to qualify for a flood - protection rating that could result in lower premiums for flood insurance policies. Although the City is mostly protected by the hurricane storm levee system, many areas behind the levee and all areas outside the levee are still considered to be in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA), in which additional elevation requirements exist for new residential or commercial construction or for significant improvement (51 % value or more) of existing structures. The extent of elevation is determined by the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM). In addition, the City Council passed Ord. 10 -13 that established a one -foot "freeboard" requirement that added one foot to the elevation established by the FIRM. For instance, more than 90% of El Vista is in an SFHA and is rated by the FIRM as being in an AH (El 4) flood zone. As a result, FEMA requires the bottom floor of a new or significantly improved structure to be higher than four feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL), and the City's freeboard rule calls for structures to be elevated an additional foot, for a total of five feet above MSL. I might add that for each additional foot above the FIRM requirement, policy holders will pay a significantly lower premium for flood insurance. To avoid confusion, even • Page 1 property behind the levee system that is higher than the land in El Vista, Lakeside, Sabine Pass, parts of Port Acres and the areas north of Texas 73 and east of West Port Arthur Road must still have flood insurance if the property is mortgaged because FEMA considers the areas to lie between the 100 -year and 500 -year probability of flooding. We encounter great difficulties in older neighborhoods where homes were built before Hurricanes Rita and Ike struck Port Arthur. The elevation rules were much more lax in the previous century, so most homes were not elevated as currently required by the FIRM system. As such, many of the older homes could actually be built below Sea Level and could experience difficulties from new homes built to current FEMA standards. To avoid storm -water runoff from the fill- elevated homes, the city requires that contractors follow the FEMA Technical Bulletin 10 -01 (TB -10- 01) guidelines which require a design professional's stamped certification that the home has been elevated to meet or exceed FEMA requirements and drawings that illustrate how the professionally- designed drainage system prevents any storm -water runoff from affecting any adjacent property. In addition, neighbors' property is protected by the Texas Water Code, Section 11.086, which states: No person may divert or impound the natural flow of surface waters in this state, or permit a diversion or impounding, by him to continue, in a manner that damages the property of another by the overflow of the water diverted or impounded. Public Works Director Ross Blackketter and I have discussed seeking to reference this Texas Code in city ordinances covering construction in the parts of town that do not require elevation because any construction can at time cause storm -water runoff issues for neighbors. • Page 2 ENF•RIEMENT DEPARTMENT NE(Eario To: Floyd T. Johnson, City Manager From: Lawrence Baker, Director of Code Enforcemen L Date: 4/25/2013 Re: Elevation Level and Building Permits Procedure (Report requested by Mayor Prince) All structures that are located in flood zones are required by our ordinance and FEMA regulations to be elevated one foot above the established Base Flood Elevation (BFE) , for that zone. As a result of that requirement we have numerous homes that have been funded through IKE Disaster grants being constructed in older established neighborhoods where elevation standards were nonexistent at the time of their construction. When these newer homes are constructed they have to meet the newer guidelines. The older homes are much lower than the newer home which creates a drainage issue for them. We have recognized this issue and set a plan in motion to prevent or minimize the impact of the new homes. Our International Residential Building Codes in Section R403.1.7.3 Foundation specifies that all drainage from the structure discharge away from the house in order to protect the structure's foundation. In the instance that we have encountered we have new homes being built in existing neighborhoods where you don't have adequate setback between adjacent properties to facilitate proper drainage in order to reduce water flow to those adjacent properties. Some of these older homes were 1 built in such a way that they encroach on currently established set -back requirement. A proper way to protect these homes would be to require swales between the homes, install gutters on the newer homes or the installation of an underground storm drainage - -- system to move the water out and away- from - - -- - adjoining structures. Our Code of Ordinance does not at this time address this specific type problem. Paul and Ross have had preliminary discussions along those lines regarding the beefing up of the subdivision ordinance. These types of requirements could be included in the new amendments at that time. I have met with the contractors who are and will be participating in the IRE Round 2 construction program to point out the problem and inform them what we, as a department, will be doing and requiring beginning today. We will be more vigilant during the initial foundation inspection to gauge the slope and drainage of the lot. When a problem is observed we will require preventive measures to be incorporated during the construction phase to ensure we have no flooding problems after the completion of the new homes. All of the contractors were in agreement with this approach and indicated they would work with us to prevent this from occurring in the future. CC: Assistant City Manager, John Comeaux • Page 2