Flood maps, ordinance to be revised [The Mountaineer, Waynesville, N.C.]

Jan. 18--Haywood County is nearing the end of a nearly four-year process to complete new flood maps, craft an updated ordinance and adopt a flood insurance study.

The prolonged cycle of maps, public meetings, appeals, new maps, more public meetings and more revised has resulted in Haywood being the last county in the state to adopt the new maps required by the federal government.

County Planning Director Kris Boyd said there is a lot at stake in meeting the April 3 adoption deadline.

"We're suspended from the national flood insurance program if we don't comply," Boyd said. "The consequences are very extreme. If someone has a mortgage where flood insurance is required, they will have 30 to 60 days to pay it off if we're out of the program."

Furthermore, because the federal government is the only entity that provides flood insurance, suspension from the program would mean no homes could be built or sold in the flood plain if flood insurance wasn't available.

A public hearing on the issue will be held at 5:30 p.m. Moday, Jan. 23 at the Historic Courthouse courtroom.

All towns within the county must also approve the new maps, pass a new flood damage preventions ordinance and adopt the flood insurance study by the April deadline.

Every concern and appeal raised by public officials and citizens was addressed during the process, Boyd said. The result is that the floodway/flood plain widths are wider in some areas, narrower in others and changing only moderately in many places.

The floodway is an area where building is not allowed unless a special permit is obtained through the Federal Emergency Management Agency via he state, Boyd said. The county, or municipalities with flood programs, can permit structures to be constructed in the floodplain as long as elevation studies are submitted and the building occurs one foot above the base elevation.

Boyd pulled up digitized maps showing large portions of Waynesville, Clyde, Canton and in the outer areas of the county as being in the flood plain.

"When you think about it, where did we build 150 years ago?" Boyd asked. "Along the rivers was the easiest place to settle years ago. It was easy to get roads there because of flatter ground."

Technology driven

The maps showing where the flood waters can be expected to cover in a 100-year and 500-year period were devised by considering numerous factors, including historic flood events, stream gauge data, watershed acreage, density of houses, whether land is woodland or open land and the amount of impervious surface area, to name a few. Those who didn't like the maps were able to submit credible evidence about why the data was wrong. In some cases, the evidence resulted in changes, in other cases, it didn't. In all, the maps were revised four times, Boyd said.

Currently, property owners near waterways who want to see how the new maps affected their land can view the maps at the planning office. Once adopted, but maps will become an added layer on the county GIS information and will be available on the county land records website.

There are detailed maps available for review in print, as well.

The new flood ordinance incorporates the minimum language in state law, and while the sections are changed considerably, there will be no changes in the way flood permits are issued at the county level or in the criteria used for issuing permits.

While the time to appeal the maps has passed, the Monday public hearing can encompass all areas of the flood changes.

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