I have have a client that just found out his walk in basement is 3.5' under the BFE. He is asking if its possible to construct a berm above the BFE around the walkout area and then try for the LOMAF. I've never had to try this and I don't want to advise the client to spend the money to bring in the fill if FEMA has a problem with it. Anybody have any experience with this? Will FEMA accept the berm to to pull the building out of the floodplain? Thanks for any advice.
Mike
You should call FEMA and check, but I have been told that if you can prove that there is land that prevents floodwater from reaching a LAG below the BFE you can get a LOMA. Call a map specialist. They are generally very helpful with how to go about these things.
Ever heard of a "No Rise" certificate. That's what you need when you start asking permission to do things in a flood plain. These must be signed by a licensed engineer as there is a determination to be made as to how any construction within the flood plain will impact the remainder of the flood plain. The first one of these I filled out was for a case where a county was going to be mining gravel out of the bottom of a river. Pretty obvious that they were increasing local storage instead of doing something that would raise the water level. Nevertheless, I had to fill out a "No Rise" certificate stating the obvious.
In your case, this could be a big no no if this falls within the delineated floodway and not just in the fringe.
I worked on a project on an island and the landowner wanted to install an eight-foot high concrete wall around the house, yet still be able to drive over the top as he was too old and feeble to walk up and down a steep embankment like the driveway that would have been required. Said he would put a six inch drain pipe in the bottom of the wall to get the water out. Asked him how long he could tread water. Seriously, a couple of years later the river flooded again and was up to the eaves on his house.
I am not sure about Cow's suggestion as coastal flood plain does not have the same compensatory storage issues.
I have had success using the CLOMR-F followed with the LOMR-F. While the Conditional LOMR-F is not absolute, it gives some assurance that the final proposal will bring the building out of the flood plain.
Thank you, I didn't think of that. He would be filling in the floodplain. I'll have check with the County on this as well.
Thanks.
I had a recent project with some similarity, in that a client had a home which was behind an existing berm. Going through the regulatory process, what we came up with is 2 fold, one is that the berm has to qualify as a levee. In our case, it didn't qualify as it didn't have some important elements of levee construction.
The other is a hydraulic study is necessary showing that the area removed from flood storage did not cause an objectional increase in flood level in the remaining flooded area.
I agree with Clearcut. It will be seen as both fill and a levee.
Thanks guys. Found out that the County wont let them fill in the floodplain anyway. that's a 3K suck for these folks.