City of Belvedere

Description

GPUSC Meeting Held FEMA Flood Map & Land Use Changes On Wednesday night the General Plan Update Steering Committee hosted a community meeting on the FEMA Flood Map and its implications for land-use and design along the Lagoon. ( Audio ) ( Video ) As many of you are aware, several years ago FEMA began the update process to its Regional Flood Plan Map. These maps had not been updated in over 20 years. Contact by FEMA regarding flood elevation changes in Belvedere prompted the City’s recent evaluation of the San Rafael Avenue Seawall Project. Some of you may recall the “string lines” along the seawall depicting various elevations to which the wall might be raised. These string line elevations were based on the preliminary information from FEMA. The City had received significant feedback on the question of raising the San Rafael Avenue seawall – most of it in opposition due to aesthetics, view impairment, design, cost (an estimated $2 million) etc. A community meeting was held in February 2009 with representatives from FEMA to discuss the implications of the new Map, to include the requirement for flood insurance. The 1979 Flood Map showed only two properties along the Lagoon in the flood zone. The 2009 Map indicated that 275 properties were now in the Flood Zone. The 2009 Flood Map is a “Bay Wide” document and did not solely identify changes particular to Belvedere, but rather incorporated and detailed flood map changes for all of Marin County, San Francisco County, Santa Clara County, and more. During the initial stages of the process, the City questioned the validity and accuracy of the Map and conducted its own survey to determine the accuracy of FEMA’s LIDAR survey data. The City’s independent surveyor confirmed the accuracy of FEMA’s Mapping information. The City also had several properties removed from the FEMA due to obvious errors in the drawing of the map (properties up on Laurel Avenue). Further, depending on proximity to the flood zone, some individual property owners could initiate a “map revision” process if they felt that their homes were “outside” the flood zone designation. Once a survey was conducted validating the home’s elevation or location, the property owner could then be exempted from the requirements. After several community informational meetings, the FEMA Flood Map became effective in May 2009. With the new data, the City learned that minor changes in the elevation of the San Rafael Avenue seawall would no longer protect the Lagoon per the FEMA Map and its corresponding datum. In order to fully protect the Lagoon and eliminate the flood hazards identified in the FEMA Map, the San Rafael Avenue seawall would have to be raised to “levy height” and be certified in its design by FEMA. IN ADDITION, a new protection system would have to be built along the Beach Road interface that also met “levy height” requirements and be certified in design by FEMA. Both would have to be built to eliminate the flood hazard identified by the 2009 FEMA Map. The San Rafael Avenue seawall does not presently meet FEMA’s levy height or design certification requirements. A long-standing requirement per the California Building Code pursuant to the Federal Code of Regulations (this affects all of the U.S.) is that when rebuilding (or remodeling a specified percentage), homes must be elevated above a flood plain if the home is within one. Local ordinances must be adopted to conform to these requirements. Without the adoption of local ordinances, properties within the flood map area are not eligible for flood insurance. Based on the 1979 Map (prior to the May 2009 map), this only impacted a couple of homes in Belvedere. With the effective date of the new 2009 Map, this requirement now impacts approximately 275 homes. Since May 2009, any development on one of these structures exceeding 50% of the appraised value of the structure triggered the FEMA Flood Map requirements. Whether or not a property is within a flood zone is a matter for disclosure when a property is sold. The City requires a “Residential Building Report” prior to the sale of any property in Belvedere. This Report provides a prospective property owner with information on the flood zone for the property. The City has provided this information for several properties since the effective date of the Map. In addition, since the effective date of the Map, four to five properties have moved through the City’s Design Review/Building process and are now at various stages of design or construction having met or designed for the requriements of the Map. With the 2009 FEMA Map and the requirement to build finished floors above the flood plain, properties within the Lagoon are challenged by the present land use regulations for height. In effect, the height of structures is compressed between the new finished floor elevation and the maximum height limit for single or two-story structures. This challenge presented itself upon FEMA’s with the adoption of the 2009 Map. However, not all properties face the same challenge. The amount a property needs to be raised is dependent upon its grade elevation. A few properties along Cove Road are facing a requirement to raise the finished floor by 5.78 feet. Properties along Peninsula Road must be raised an average of 3.73 feet. Properties along San Rafael Avenue south of West Shore Road are all already above the required elevation and do not have to be raised, despite the fact that they all remain in the flood zone. The properties along Mallard and Leeward are looking at an average of 4.34 feet. The implications are not identical, but are certainly neighborhood consistent. In other words, if your home’s finished floor needs to be raised by 2 feet it is likely that your neighbor has a similar requirement and not one that represents a 6 feet increase. From a design perspective, the changes can be impactful. In some cases, decking might need to be raised to accommodate level access versus a step or more. Without a corresponding adjustment to the City’s height limits, roof lines could change from pitched to flat. Sideyard fencing might need to be stepped as it transitions toward the rear of the lot. Insead of “at grade” homes, many will require steps to enter – some one or two others five or more. Garages are not affected and would not need to be raised, but transitions from garages into homes will change. At Wednesday’s meting, suggestions were made to address some of these issues. Some of these suggestions included: adjustment to lot coverage coverage requirements to allow for decking; adjustments to floor area to allow expanded first floor elevations; modifications to the City’s height measurement methodology to accommodate the increased finished floor requirements (measurement from street level, using an “average” height measurement, etc.); adjustments to fence height requirements, and more. However, a large part of the time on ended up focused on challenging the validity of the FEMA Map and/or working toward constructing physical barriers to prevent flooding. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times ( article ) discussing many communities facing the same issue. The article goes on further to discuss how the City of Moorpark spent $100,000 to fund a study to determine whether 900 homes were improperly added to the FEMA Map. As a result, FEMA has agreed to redraw some aspects of the map in Moorpark. This prompted much of the discusison on Wednesday night. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Committee decided to remove the discussion of height changes on the Lagoon from the General Plan and instead, ask the Council to form a Committee to evaluate the issue(s) further with three objectives: The City Council will hear from the Council representative to the General Plan Committee at their February meeting regarding establishing the Committee on the issue. It is important to realize that the FEMA Flood Map has been effective since May 2009. The requirement to raise the finished floor of a structure exists today. Absent land-use and design changes, structures must meet the requirements of the current Belvedere Design Code. Legal challenges are not likely to be accomplished in the short-term. Design, approval, bid, financing, and construction of barrier systems also represent longer term projects. Solutions could well be several years away, if not more. In the interim, construction projects must meet present day standards and requriements. It may be advantages to move ahead with discussion of land-use design changes and implement some interim measures that allow flexibility for the current property owners. Further, at Wednesday’s meeting, the FEMA representative indicated that their current measurement for flood waters was based on “still water” measurement. To determine the height for barrier systems, the heights would have to take into account wave surge and other factors yet to be determined by FEMA. Essentially, the San Rafael Avenue seawall would likely have to be much higher than even the string lines indicated in order to comply with levy certification. Stay tuned.

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