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2015 04 09 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN April 09, 2015 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, at 5:33 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Brandon Capetillo Council Member Robert Hoskins Council Member David McCartney Council Member Chris Presley Council Member Terry Sain Council Member Stephen DonCarlos Mayor Ron Bottoms Acting City Manager Karen Horner City Attorney Leticia Brysch City Clerk Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Arms Mayor DonCarlos convened the April 09, 2015, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:33 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Renteria who was absent. 1. a. Discuss an ordinance amending Chapter 110 "Floods," Article II "Flood Damage Prevention" of the Code of Ordinances, Baytown, Texas, to update the City's regulations that are designed to minimize flood losses consistent with the National Flood Insurance Program and to adopt the revised Flood Insurance Rate Maps for the City of Baytown. Planning and Community Development Assistant Director, Kevin Cummings presented the agenda item and stated that most of the amendments to the proposed ordinance are definition changes recommended by FEMA. He stated that part of the discussion that was different from the previous discussion was the adoption of the maps and that Harris County and Chambers County are adopting different maps as it pertains to their area of Baytown. Mr. Cummings stated that the most current map for Chambers County was adopted in 1999 and the most current for Harris County was 2007. He stated that according to the study provided by FEMA, as it relates to the Flood insurance program and Chambers County, was that there were more flood claims from the Baytown area of Chambers County. During further discussion, he stated that Harris County appealed portions of the study with FEMA and as discussed at the prior meeting staff initially requested to wait for the results from the appeal to adopt the revisions of the Harris County portion; but since feels that Harris County's portion is the unincorporated area and City Council Regular Work Session Meeting Minutes April 098, 2015 Page 2 of 3 probably will not affect the decisions made to the City of Baytown. He stated that staff recommends adopting the revisions for the entire City of Baytown, Harris County area and and that if Harris County have an appeal that affects Baytown, the current wording states that the City would automatically adopt the revised map that's most current and be in compliance. During further discussion, Mayor DonCarlos inquired that if the State settles on a surge protection plan if much of what's in the flood zone because of tidal surges would then be taken out of the flood zone. Mr. Scott Williams stated that there's going to be two studies done and because they will be government funded all entities involved will have a part to do and the selling component of that point will be that they will do a letter of map revisions (LOMR) which will adjust the flood plains in the affected areas. Additionally, Mr. Cummings stated that some of the proposed changes are aimed to increase the community rating score which helps with the community rating system through the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program. During further discussion, Mr. Williams stated that FEMA created a map called Texchart that provides data of the proposed changes to the Baytown area including the Harris and Chambers Counties. He stated that due to modern technology the map was able to be produced more accurately with the exception of the area along west Cedar Bayou Lynchburg in which 98% of that area will be excluded from the flood zone because of the retention project done by Harris County. He stated that the recommendation to adopt the maps is to enforce the ordinance to anyone who builds in the affected areas. With regards to insurance rates, Mr. Williams stated that if grandfathering is applied the owner receives a subsidized rate, but if the owner sales the house and someone else purchases it the new owner receives the full rate therefore staff is trying to protect the investments that citizens are making in that area to get them high enough so when the maps kick in there won't be a negative impact on the value of the property. He stated that there's a discount on insurance up to four (4) foot above base flood elevation and that the percentage rate could range from 0% to 18% based on individual terms. He stated that the CRS program rules changed therefore the City will be reviewed differently this year and because of such expected stiffer changes of the CRS program, staff recommends a more restrictive ordinance. He stated that on a rating scale of one (1) to (10) ten, the City is currently at a six (6). Mr. Williams stated that the majority of the proposed changes were definition changes, but that the one of the major amendments to the ordinance was the change of no slab on grade construction in the floodplain, in which FEMA's idea would be to not allow construction in the flood plain. Council Member McCartney inquired for clarity if the rule was still in place to the affect that a home is to sustain 50% or more damage in order to be rebuilt. Mr. Williams stated that the rule is still in place, which means that if the damage occurred to a structure is more than 50% and the evaluation to repair it is 50% of its current evaluation per Harris or Chambers County it would have come 100% in compliance with the ordinance. He stated that FEMA has in their regulations substantial improvements, which means that if you do any improvements to a structure and the improvement exceeds 50% of the evaluation, FEMA requirements is also to come into 100% compliance with the current regulations. He further stated that this is a FEMA City Council Regular Work Session Meeting Minutes April 098, 2015 Page 3 of 3 requirement that the City has to adopt in order to participate in the Voluntary Flood Insurance Program. During further discussion, Council Member McCartney inquired about bringing the fill up to twenty four inches. Mr. Williams stated that the FEMA regulations which is in the City's current ordinance that there is no fill in the flood plain with the exception of it being allowed for the slab only. Mr. Williams further stated that FEMA is moving away from the allowance of the fill for slab because of the issues it is causing. The consensus of the board was to move forward with adopting the ordinance with exceptions regarding the fill for certain size lots. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the April 09, 2015, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:11 P.M. Leticia Brysch, City C1Wk City of Baytown