Title
Informational Report on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Proposed Revisions to Floodplain Maps Which Could Impact Alameda Property Owners. (Public Works 4205)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Elizabeth D. Warmerdam, Interim City Manager
Re: Informational Report on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Proposed Revisions to Floodplain Maps Which Could Impact Alameda Property Owners.
BACKGROUND
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA periodically updates the maps for all lands subject to a one percent annual chance of flooding based on current sea level. Areas subject to extreme high tides and storm action are included in the maps, and FEMA issues new Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) and Flood Insurance Studies (FIS) based on these maps. Local communities, in turn, adopt by ordinance the FIRM, FIS, and special building requirements in the flood zone.
If a local community fails to participate in the program, the sanctions are severe - public and private properties in the identified flood zones would not be eligible for federally subsidized flood insurance, federally backed mortgages (FHA, VA, etc.), federal grants, or federal disaster relief.
The City of Alameda is currently participating in the National Flood Insurance Program, and adopts by ordinance any new maps issued by FEMA in order to continue to participate in the program.
DISCUSSION
On April 17, 2015, FEMA sent a preview of the new Preliminary Maps to the City of Alameda. FEMA will formally issue a Notice of Proposed Flood Hazard Determinations and the Preliminary Maps in July 2015. These will be announced in the Federal Register and the legal section of a local newspaper. In addition to the advertisements by FEMA, the City of Alameda will be sending out approximately 2,000 letters to owners and residents of affecte...
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