Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
(OP)
It has come to my attention that a certain municipality near me may(*) have thrown out or ignored a calculated floodway width on a recent FIRM revision, and instead simply claimed that the entire floodplain is floodway. They may(*) have done this on purpose, to prevent future development in the floodplain.
Questions:
1) Anybody ever heard of a municipality doing that before?
2) Is that legal?
(*) "may" = relatively well founded conjecture
I don't intend to fight with them about it, because I want to maintain a good relationship with the municipality. It's just a fairly odd thing to see happen.
Questions:
1) Anybody ever heard of a municipality doing that before?
2) Is that legal?
(*) "may" = relatively well founded conjecture
I don't intend to fight with them about it, because I want to maintain a good relationship with the municipality. It's just a fairly odd thing to see happen.
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com





RE: Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
RE: Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
RE: Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
I don't want to say too much more, because I don't want a pissing match to inadvertently develop with these guys, and truthfully I quite like the folks who run the stormwater at this particular municipality. They are usually very reasonable. Just wondered if anyone knew whether this sort of act was legal or common elsewhere.
Obviously they could revise their flood ordinance to prohibit development in the floodplain entirely if they wanted to, but this act would seem like a way to get at that net result without having to put anything to a vote.
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com
RE: Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
However, when a community regulates an entire floodplain as a floodway, it takes the risk of being sued as "taking" if the property owners feel that the more stringent regulations deprive them of their economic rights for their properties located in the floodplain.
RE: Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
That certainly gives them the freedom to draw their regulations up however they like for development in the floodplain, even to prohibit it entirely, but does that permit them to redefine the engineering definition of "floodway" itself? Do you see the distinction I'm trying to draw?
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com
RE: Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway
RE: Municipality "earmarking" floodplain as floodway