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Consider public testimony regarding, and an ordinance amending Zoning and Development Code, Chapter 1, Article III, Section 1-50 and Chapter 8, Article X, Division 12, Section 8-160(b), 8-161(a) and 8-161(b)(1)(f), Code of Ordinances (2018 Edition), relating to flood damage prevention. (First Reading)*
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The City has participated for over 40 years in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the US Department of Homeland Security (FEMA); this participation provides all citizens of the City with the opportunity to purchase flood insurance. In order to participate in the NFIP, the City must adopt and enforce ordinances acceptable to FEMA.
Effective December 20, 2019, FEMA is issuing a revised Flood Insurance Study (FIS) for Williamson County, Texas and Incorporated Areas that contains new Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs). This FIS revision encompasses a great portion of the City and incorporates the analyses performed as part of a study of the Upper Brushy Creek watershed that was sponsored by the Upper Brushy Creek Water Control and Improvement District (UBCWCID). The FEMA FIS and FIRMs are an important component of the City’s floodplain management efforts; providing flood risk information used by the City, the development community, the City’s property owners and renters, and, by lenders and flood insurance professionals in the determination of flood insurance requirements and premiums.
In September 2018, recodification of the City’s Code occurred that combined the definitions section from the previous Flood Damage Prevention regulations with other definitions into a separate section of the Code. Because of the anticipated FIS revision, FEMA asked to review the City’s Code and subsequently requested an addition to the definition of “Development” in Part III, Chapter 1, Article III of the Code, and an addition to a notifications section in Part III, Chapter 8, Article X, Division 12...
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