Dewey approves flood plain ordinance

Four months before a federally mandated deadline, Dewey Beach Town Council approved a flood plain reduction ordinance during a Dec. 13 meeting.

New flood insurance rate maps take effect March 16, 2015, and adoption of the ordinance was required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control so property owners will have continued access to flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Programs.

The measure passed by a 4-1 vote, following a public hearing that spanned two meetings. The Dewey Beach Planning Commission forwarded to council the ordinance Oct. 18 after working on it for more than six months.

Commissioner Anna Legates was the lone no vote. She said she voted against the ordinance because of wording added by the planning commission to a document with FEMA-approved language and because no final draft was presented for review.

Legates wanted council to approve the document with the federally-approved language so the town complied with the deadline, but then come back and make changes specific to Dewey Beach. She said she was not comfortable approving a document that had been modified during a council meeting because it wouldn't have a chance to be proofed before a final vote.

The council didn't change anything to the majority of the 38-page document submitted from the commission.

The ordinance keeps the status quo regarding the town's 35-foot limit on building height, but it changes the definition of substantial damage. Current code sets threshold set at 30 percent cumulative damage over 10 years, meaning if over 10 years a house suffers damaged estimated at 30 percent of its total value, then it must be rebuilt to new FEMA standards.

The new ordinance would set damage at 50 percent, one time, but meeting new standards could mean raising houses as high as seven feet in certain parts of Dewey.

The ordinance also sets the height of freeboard – a measured height above expected flood waters – at 12 inches.

FEMA doesn't require this measure, but it does help property owners in terms of the regulatory agency's Community Rating System. Under the scoring system, towns get points for taking steps to reduce flood damage. For every 500 points, there's a 5 percent discount. Dewey Beach currently has a score of 1,386.

The ordinance also sets the town manager as the floodplain administrator.

There were two significant changes made by council to the planning commission's submission.

The first change involved the commission's involvement in a Dewey Board of Adjustment hearing. As proposed, the commission would have to review an application to the board and then prepare a report based on relevant regulations.

Council chose to remove the additional layer of bureaucracy. Town Manager Marc Appelbaum said the board's rules already provide an avenue for gaining any relevant information that may be needed.

The other change was the removal of a section, which was essentially a house keeping measure. The section said an update of town code would need to be completed so other sections coincide with the new ordinance and gives the board of adjustment the ability to authorize variances from the ordinance.

Town attorney Fred Townsend said those issues need to be addressed, but the ordinance was the correct venue and suggested talking about them at a later date.