City approves new flood plain maps, ordinance
is taking a very old code and updating it to current standards,” — City Planner Bob Christensen
A flood plain is a flood plain, except when it is not.
If that confused you, you are not alone as city planner Bob Christensen attempted to explain how the newly updated federal floodplain maps don’t impact or include city maps created several years ago that show a large swath of the northeast corner of the city in a potential flood zone.
The question came up during a public hearing at Tuesday’s city council meeting regarding new federal maps showing areas with the potential for flooding. The maps were developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency working with the Department of Natural Resources and are used by the federal flood insurance program to show if properties may need additional flood insurance. The changes including updating the previous maps which were from September 1978 and show the impact of a “100 year flood event” meaning there is a 1% chance in any given year for the conditions to be right for a flood of that magnitude to occur. The proposed ordinance changes were simply adopting the model ordinance prepared by the DNR with the sections renumbered to match the city’s code books. This model ordinance was also adopted by the county and villages for their flood zones.
“It is taking a very old code and updating it to current standards,” Christensen said.
Where things become confusing is that the maps do not include a wide swath of flood zone that runs from a dam north of Allman Street generally southwest to the Medford Millpond. Homes and properties in this area have restrictions on development and are subject to local flood zone zoning rules because they are in the shadow of the dam and could potentially be impacted if the privately owned dam were to ever fail.
“It “That is not a floodplain according to FEMA,” said Christensen, when asked by council member Laura Holmes why the dam failure flood zone map wasn’t included in the new flood zone map being approved with the ordinance change.
“It is not a continuous floodplain,” Christensen continued, noting that the area is in a “potential floodplain.” He also assured council members, “It will never be part of the floodplain mapping we are adopting.”
The federal floodplain maps have more to do with people getting financing and whether their mortgage holder will require them to get flood insurance. The city, and now the county, both participate in the federal flood insurance program where impacted property owners are eligible to get subsidized flood insurance.
However, despite not being in the flood zones as defined by the FEMA maps, the areas in the dam shadow are subject to the same city-imposed restrictions as in the past, and lenders may or may not require flood insurance.
Christensen emphasized that the maps from that dam failure study were not incorporated into the FEMA flood zone maps.
The flood zone map through the city focused primarily along the Black River which has its headwaters a few miles north of Medford and runs through the city.
According to Christensen, there was not much changed with the new maps compared to the old ones in regard to impacting new residences or property owners.
“The city has very little floodplain,” Christensen said.
“It doesn’t really impact residential or commercial property,” Christensen said.
Following the public hearing, council members approved the new floodplain ordinance including adopting the new FEMA flood zone maps.
In other business, council members:
Approved the purchase and installations of two new 850,000 BTU boilers at the city pool to replace the single boiler that had been there for nearly 20 years and failed last summer The cost is $101,770 and will be installed by Staley Plumbing and HVAC of Hatfield. Council member Clem Johnson asked why they didn’t go through a local firm for them. City coordinator Joe Harris said the boilers will be identical to the ones at public works and at the library building which will make regular maintenance easier especially with the city crews being familiar with them.
Approved the sale of 2.8 acres of City owned property on Pep’s Drive to Steve Hoffman and Angela Wernberg at a price of $500 with the purchasers paying the closing costs.
Approved the wages for the summer help. Under the proposed increase, the head lifeguard will be paid $15 per hour, the assistant head lifeguard will be paid $14.50 per hour, lifeguards will make $14 per hour, attendants will make $10 per hour. Lifeguards must go through training and certifications in order to hold the position. Public works summer help will earn $11.75 per hour. In addition, the city pays two adult pool managers a set lump sum of $3,000 for the summer, this amount was unchanged from past years.
Approved the rates for the pool with no changes from last year.
Received an update on the sewer plant upgrade project. Two of the blowers have been shipped from Germany and other major components are on their way with installation to take place later this winter.
Changed the date for the council meeting scheduled for February 20 to have it on Monday, Feb. 19 instead due to a primary election that will be held on Feb. 20 for the second district seat for the Taylor County Board, which covers the southwestern corner of the city of Medford.