AgdaPkt 2010-05-24 special, clsd and jnt

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6.4A Page 1 REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the City Manager May 24, 2010 SUBJECT Ordinance amendment to the Floodplain Management Ordinance of the City of Redwood City RECOMMENDATION Introduce an ordinance to amend sections 41.15 and 41.19 of the City Code to include requirements for submission of Letter of Map Revision (LOMR}, and Letter of Map Revision based on Fill (LOMR-F) by project permit applicants, in order to comply with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulations. BACKGROUND The Floodplain Management Ordinance of the City of Redwood City only applies to areas of special flood hazards (SFHA), defined as areas subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year (100-year flood), and designated as flood zone Al and V1 on the attached map. The proposed ordinance amendment is limited to the reporting and documentation procedure and is administrative in nature. The amendment will not change any current development requirements or floodplain boundaries. The City of Redwood City has been a participant of the NFIP, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA}, since May 17 1982. As part of its Community Assistance Program, FEMA has retained the California Department of Water Resources (DWR} to conduct Community Assistance Visits (CAV} to assist with proper implementation of the NFIP. A Community Assistance Visits was conducted in Redwood City by DWR staff on September 25, 2009, to review the City's floodplain management regulations and enforcement practices. The review indicates that in order for the City to remain compliant with NFIP, the City's floodplain management regulations need to be updated to conform to current federal regulations. The purpose of the update is to ensure that the Floodplain Administrator and/or the project applicant of flood control projects and subdivisions in FEMA designated SFHAs file proper documentation with FEMA whenever the SFHA, base flood elevation, or regulatory floodways are modified. In most cases, the modification is to remove the subdivision or structure out of the SFHA. Therefore, proper documentation, in the form of a LOMR or LOMR-F, is necessary to ensure Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM} reflect accurate currant data. Recommended updates to the Floodplain Management Ordinance include: Addition of the following to section 41.15 Duties and Responsibilities of the Floodplain Administrator: