FEMA is proposing major new requirements for communities that want to remain in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Under this new plan for Oregon, FEMA would change the NFIP to focus on protecting floodplain habitat for fish, rather than insuring properties from flood and mitigating risks to life and property. The new requirements would apply to all NFIP mapped areas within the highlighted areas of the state – affecting 31 counties and more than 100 cities and towns. If a community refuses to adopt these new standards, FEMA can kick them out of the NFIP, making all residents ineligible for federal flood insurance and disaster aid.
Here are some of the new rules and their potential impacts:
- A typical new single-family house could require a second piece of land to be kept undeveloped as “mitigation.”
- The cost of construction for homes and new commercial development could increase by nearly 30 percent. The cost of your new home could go up more than $7500 a year in mortgage/interest to pay for complying with the new requirements.
- Remodeling or expanding existing developed commercial and industrial land could require a different or more expensive design.
- If a farmer wants to build a new agricultural building in the floodplain, the cost could increase by about 12 per cent.
- For port projects subject to the new standards, the land required to be set aside for mitigation would be substantial with corresponding increases in project cost, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to project costs.
- Counties and cities in Oregon would need to make changes to existing ordinances. To do this, the counties and cities may have to hire additional help at a cost of about $60,000 to more than $1 million, depending on the size of the jurisdiction.
- 233 Oregon communities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program would have to pay $100,000 to $200,000 to achieve initial adoption and implementation. The total cost could be $23 million to $47 million for the full Oregon plan area.
In short, these stringent new rules would significantly burden not only new business and home development, but also existing homeowners and businesses by making small additions, sheds, or driveways into major mitigation projects. A remodel or repair of your house from storm damage now will become too costly to repair, even under NFIP coverage—which insufficiently covers the cost of compliance with these new regulations.
FEMA is currently accepting public comments on their Draft Environmental Impact Statement which is the next step in making these new rules permanent. FEMA has presented three alternatives. Alternative 1 would allow the NFIP to continue to operate in Oregon without costly changes. Alternatives 2 and 3 require costly mitigation of all development in floodplains. FEMA wants to hear from the public and interested parties about which alternative they should select and why.
Oregonians for Floodplain Protection urges people to tell FEMA to adopt Alternative 1. Oregon has existing rules to protect endangered species, and FEMA is using nearly 10-year-old data to make these rules. FEMA’s public meetings held so far have had less than 100 people participating, and the general public does not know about these new rules. The last public meeting is September 30th from 6-8 pm via Zoom.
More information is available on our website, https://floodplainprotection.org.