AgdaPkt 2008-04-28 - Laserfiche WebLink

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REPORT 6.3A Page 1 To the Honorable Mayor and City Council FrOm. the City Mallaget April 28, 2008 SUBJECT Adoption of the City of Redwood City Levee Operation and Maintenance Manual RECOMMENDATION Adopt, by resolution, the document entitled "City of Redwood City Levee Operation and Maintenance Manual." BACKGROUND The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is one of two federal agencies that establish guidelines and design criteria for levees that provide flood control for communities against fluvial and coastal flooding. FEMA sets federal flood management standards, including determination of areas that are in the 100~year floodplain. The areas that are in a floodplain are identified on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) as Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA), and properties within the SFHA are subject to several requirements: . All federally-backed loans must be protected by flood insurance (most lenders require this whether federal or not); . All new or substantially improved structures must have the lowest floor elevated above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE), which is usually the one percent occurrence flood elevation. FEMA is implementing a Flood Map Modernization (Map Mod) program to convert paper FIRMs to digital. As part of Map Mod, FEMA recognizes the risk and vulnerability of communities with levees, and mandates the inclusion of levee evaluations for those communities undergoing map changes. The City of Redwood City, as well as other Bay Area cities, is among those that have the responsibility to provide documentation that levees under its jurisdiction meet the requirements of Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 65.10 of the National Flood Insurance Program regulations (44 CFR Section 65.10). Without the required documentation necessary to comply with 44 CFR Section 65.10, the area behind the levee will be designated as within the flood plain, thus requiring homeowners to obtain flood insurance. A copy of the officially-adopted Levee Operation and Maintenance Manual is a component of the required documentation to comply with 44 CFR Section 65.10. The purpose of the manual is to document the procedures for monitoring, inspection, operation, and maintenance of the perimeter levee system protecting the City. The manual serves as a guide for operating procedures before, during, and after a flood emergency, as well as for regularly scheduled maintenance, and is intended to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis. The City has continuously maintained and monitored the perimeter levee system through a series of levee improvement projects from 1960 to 2002. Although the