Building in a flood plain

Many times you can build in a flood plain if you build up the site to at least 1 foot above the 100 year flood line and the site is not in the actual flood way.

http://www.fema.gov
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1383 This might also help.

Always find out who the local flood official is and what he wants. The FEMA links are what FEMA requires; local jurisdictions can always require more, but not less.

Remember the EC serves two purposes one for insurance and the other for compliance. The local community comes under the compliance heading and they make up their own rules to make sure you comply.

For flood insurance, communities are rated much like a fire rating. Communties can do certain things to reduce flood insurance premiums such as require a free board to the BFE.

> There seems to always be a difference in the way that my area's local administrators see the process for building in a flood plain. One guy wants a EC before and one after the building is built and another guys wants just a bench mark set before and the EC completed afterwards.
>
> Then the questions comes up on whether its a house or a garage ect.....
>
> Its just always been a grey area, can anyone give me a link to the answer to building in a flood plain?
>
> Thank you

I mention that the NYS building code has established the min. to be 2' above the flood plain. I believe this went into effect a couple of years ago.

I have been on board with the above and been doing that here for years. And NYS does require 2' of free board now. But there always a question and diiferent requirements in the towns in my area. They almost let me dictate what is required, or have requirements I know are wrong. So, I was hoping someone had a FEMA document or link, that would nail down the exact process, for building in a flood plain, whether its a shed or house ect. I attended many FEMA seminars and have a bunch of papers, but could not find what I'm looking for if it even exists.

I just had a client leave my office, who wants to put a campground in a floodway, that the parcel was raised by fill 20 years ago, and has never had a LOMA on it. I tiold them Flodd plain, maybe, floodway we have our hands full on this one......
Have not looked at the FIRMs yet to see what it looks like.

Thanks

NFIP Floodplain Management Requirements

Hope this helps...

DDSM:beer:

You may have to do a drainage study if there is no published elevation. You can do a LOMF which is for sites that have been raised by filling if it's out of the flood elevation. Will the campground have any actual structures or is it just for tents/campers? They may be able to place a bath house / office out of the flood zone and evacuate campers if there is a flooding condition.

Thanks Dan - This will be helpful. I will be printing it later.

Forrest

Try like hell to get a written opinion from the floodplain administrator in your area. When they don't have clearly defined requirements - and many don't - it's valuable to point to what the told you to do. However, remember that you must meet or exceed FEMA requirements.

> There seems to always be a difference in the way that my area's local administrators see the process for building in a flood plain. One guy wants a EC before and one after the building is built and another guys wants just a bench mark set before and the EC completed afterwards.
>
> Then the questions comes up on whether its a house or a garage ect.....
>
> Its just always been a grey area, can anyone give me a link to the answer to building in a flood plain?
>
> Thank you

Try this
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1724

and this
http://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program-2/nfip-technical-bulletins
pretty much covers it all

Jim Vianna