County amends
flood damage,
watershed protection ordinances
By Joe
Naiman
The Alpine Sun
The County of San Diego approved amendments to the county
codes, which address flood damage prevention and watershed
protection.
An introduction and first reading was approved by the
San Diego County Board of Supervisors on July 22, and on Aug. 5
the supervisors approved the second reading and adoption of the
ordinance amendments. The changes will officially take effect
Sept. 4.
“It’s a very positive thing,” said Cid Tesoro, the
program manager for the county’s Watershed Protection Program.
“It will help us obtain more points to get more reductions in
the flood insurance rates.”
The county participates in the National Flood Insurance
Program, which is managed by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. In order to qualify for flood insurance, residents must
meet minimum standards. FEMA’s program includes a Community
Rating System, which provides credits to communities for tasks
and activities above and beyond minimum standards.
The amendments include development criteria for new
construction or for substantial improvement of structures within
the boundaries of a Special Flood Hazard Area. Additionally, the
definition of “rainy season” in the county’s Watershed
Protection
Ordinance was modified to run from October 1 to April
30 rather than from November 11 to April 30.
The new county requirements include a freeboard margin
of protection above the base flood elevation for properties
within Special Flood Hazard Area boundaries. The lowest floor,
including basement mechanical and utility equipment and
ductwork, but not garages used solely for vehicle storage access
or secure storage, shall be at least one foot above the base
flood elevation. The freeboard margin will protect such
structures against higher flood levels due to future development
in the floodplain, uncertainties in expected flood calculation
methods or lack of data, and debris which accompanies the base
flood or other natural disasters as well as floods higher than
the base flood.
Flood insurance includes Increased Cost of Compliance
(ICC) coverage, which helps pay to bring a substantially damaged
building into compliance with the county’s Flood Damage
Prevention Ordinance. The ICC coverage pays up to $30,000 of the
cost to elevate, flood-proof, demolish, or relocate a building,
which has been substantially or repetitively damaged.
An ICC claim can be filed even if a community has not
received a Presidential disaster declaration, and the county
added a definition of “substantial damage”, which will be deemed
to have occurred if the cost to restore a structure to its
pre-damage condition would equal or exceed 50 percent of the
structure’s market value before the damage occurred or if a
structure sustains flood-related damage on two separate
occasions during a ten-year period and the cost of each event
equals or exceeds 25 percent of the structure’s pre-damage
market value.
While the Watershed Protection Ordinance had used Nov.
11 as the legal start of the rainy season, the Municipal
Stormwater Permit process utilized the Oct. 1 beginning date and
the amendment to the definition provides consistency.
“It helps out with our Community Rating System
efforts,” Tesoro said.
Although the higher standards may increase construction
costs, those additional costs will be mitigated by lower
insurance premiums. “By participating in the program to date,
the county has helped reduce the flood insurance rate in the
area by 10 percent,” Tesoro said.
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