PRESENTER: Presenter
Garry Ford, Transportation and Capital Improvements Director
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SUBJECT: Title
Approval of the second and final reading of an ordinance to amend Chapter 58, Floods, Section 58-28.2 and Section 58-29.1 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of New Braunfels to update the effective dates for the Flood Insurance Study and accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps and Flood Boundary Floodway Maps for Comal and Guadalupe Counties and designate the city’s floodplain administrator to the city engineer or city engineer’s designee.
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation and Capital Improvements
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has finalized new flood maps for Guadalupe County, effective on March 27, 2024, and Comal County, Texas, effective on May 8, 2024. Flood maps are one tool that communities use to know which areas have the highest risk of flooding. Updates to flood maps are a collaboration between the City of New Braunfels and FEMA. Every community participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has a floodplain administrator who works with FEMA during the mapping process.
The City of New Braunfels participates in the NFIP to allow our citizens to purchase flood insurance at a federally subsidized rate for any properties in a high-risk flood area. The NFIP provides flood insurance to property owners, renters, and businesses, and having this coverage helps them recover faster when floodwaters recede. The NFIP works with communities required to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations that help mitigate flooding effects. With the new flood maps, the Code of Ordinances must be amended to reflect the new flood maps for Guadalupe and Comal Counties and the effective dates.
In addition to the new flood maps, the ordinance amendment includes designating the city engineer or city engineer’s designee as the appointed floodplain administrator. Floodplain management has shifted to the Engineering Division in the Transportation and Capital Improvements Department to align technical floodplain and drainage expertise.
ISSUE:
N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval.