Title
Consider and take action on an ordinance amending Chapter 50 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of League City entitled, “Floods” regarding engineering standards for the minimization of flood losses (Director of Engineering)
Staff requests approval on first and final reading.
Background:
The “Flood Ordinance” contains requirements for sub-dividers, developers, applicants, engineers, surveyors, realtors and other persons interested and involved in the subdivision and development of land within areas of the FEMA recognized special flood hazard areas (100-yr floodplain) and within the Zone X (shaded) areas (500-yr floodplain).
This ordinance was last updated in 2018. This amendment provides some minor updates to the 2018 approved ordinance. The changes are as follows: (1) update to include direction for “in-fill lots”, (2) a clarification on how to determine the 500-yr flood elevation, and (3) removes the reference to permits and related conditions issued prior to October 1, 2018. The reasons these minor changes and updates were needed are provided below:
• The 2018 ordinance did not specifically address how in-fill lots were to be handled. For clarification in the ordinance, in-fill lots will be defined as “undeveloped residential lots within an area platted prior to July 1, 2018.” With the August 2019 revised FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), the base flood elevation and 500-yr flood elevation were updated. These updated elevations when coupled with our requirement that residential homes should be a minimum of 3” above the 500-yr elevation has caused some problems in subdivisions that were constructed prior to July 2018. For these areas, the development was graded, and homes constructed to meet the City’s older requirement standards and when in-fill homes are being constructed, the 3” above the 500-yr requirement can mean that a home is several feet higher than their neighbors. This increase in height causes some concerns with lot grading which in severe cases can lead to these new homes having to install costly retaining walls in order to not adversely impact adjacent properties. As Chapter 50 is currently written, these in-fill lots can become more expensive to develop than other homes in the neighborhood, disturb the visual look of the neighborhood and worst case would be that the vacant lots are not developed, leaving unplanned “gaps” in our older subdivisions throughout the City. Section 50-66 allows for owners to request a variance to the City’s current requirements through the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission. The proposed amendment would exempt in-fill lots from the 3” above the 500-yr Flood Elevation requirements for all subdivisions platted prior to July 1, 2018.
• The 2018 ordinance needed to be updated to properly refer to the FEMA Flood Insurance Study for applicable 500-yr flood elevation. This information became more readily available with the 2019 FEMA FIRM and FIS updates.
• When the 2018 ordinance was adopted, the ordinance allowed for plans and permits that had been approved prior to October 1, 2018, to be constructed under the older standards. With only in-fill residential lots remaining from this time frame, it made sense to remove this terminology and allow these in-fill lots to be grouped with the older areas of the City.
Staff recommends approval of this amended ordinance as all changes are minor in nature and will allow owners of in-fill residential lots to build homes without having the extra Planning & Zoning variance process added to the requirements.
Attachments:
1. Data Sheet
2. Proposed Ordinance
FUNDING
{X} NOT APPLICABLE
STRATEGIC PLANNING
{ X } Addresses Strategic Planning Critical Success Factor #1 - Develop & Maintain our Infrastructure