Pittsburgh on pace to adopt new flood maps

Sept. 05--Pittsburgh is on pace to adopt updated flood maps before the Sept. 26 deadline set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program.

The city was on a list of 102 Allegheny County municipalities that risked having flood insurance eligibility suspended if they missed the deadline. Pittsburgh City Council held a public hearing on the new Flood Plain Overlay District Thursday and will begin deliberation on the ordinance at its Wednesday standing committee meeting.

The federal insurance program enables property owners to purchase flood insurance not generally available from private insurers and at lower rates. It makes them eligible for disaster assistance as well.

But to qualify for the program, a municipality must adopt ordinances and enforce rules aimed at reducing flooding risks and flood plain property damage through elevation requirements for new residential and other types of construction as well as restrictions on expanding existing structures, among other provisions.

The new maps are part of a 2½-year nationwide process to update old flood plain maps, a FEMA spokesman said last week. FEMA is also reviewing the last five years of development in Pittsburgh's flood plain to ensure compliance, flagging about 100 possible violations, according to the report presented to council members Thursday by city planning, zoning and building inspection officials.

That could lead to the city being placed on probation, which would result in a $50 surcharge for policy-holders. Corey Layman, the city's zoning administrator, noted that while it's possible some flood-plain development was improperly permitted, the violations also could stem from improper documentation or missing paperwork.

In the new maps, the biggest additions to the areas designated at risk in Pittsburgh are along Washington Boulevard from just south Lincoln Avenue all the way to the Allegheny River, Lower Woods Run, Banksville Road, Glass Road and from 16th through 28th streets in the Strip District. Lower Lawrenceville and the area west of South Water Street are removed from the special flood hazard area on the new maps.

City Councilwoman Deb Gross, who represents riverfront neighborhoods in the Strip District, Lawrenceville and Highland Park, said developers, particularly in the Strip, have been unfazed by the new requirements.

"They didn't bat an eye lash," she said. "If they are interested in riverfront, they're ready. They understand it's part of doing construction near a river."

Ian Lipsky, an engineering hydrologist who spoke on behalf of Living Waters of Larimer, a program of the Larimer Consensus Group based at the nonprofit Kingsley Association, was the sole speaker at Thursday's public hearing.

Mr. Lipsky asked the council to incorporate provisions aimed at improving stormwater management into the ordinance, especially given the region's efforts to reduce combined sewer overflows into local rivers.

Mr. Lipsky said the city should "stake a public claim" to undeveloped areas that could be used to mitigate stormwater by restoring some of the "natural streams and their associated flood plains so that they may perform their former functions."

In an interview, Ms. Gross, who also sits on the board of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, welcomed Mr. Lipsky's suggestions but said it was unlikely they could be incorporated into the final ordinance given the looming deadline and the necessity that conform to federal and state legislation.

Robert Zullo: [email protected], 412-263-3909 or on Twitter @rczullo.

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