City council doesn’t want its residents washed out, updates flood ordinance
By Khalida Sarwari
The Campbell City Council approved a motion to update language in the city’s flood protection ordinance.
The motion, approved unanimously on July 17, calls for clarification of parts of the ordinance following recent changes to federal legislation.
According to Steve Prosser, an associate planner in the city’s community development department, the changes were made following a visit in March by a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, who notified city officials that Congress had recently instructed cities to update the language of their flood protection ordinances regarding zoning practices and construction regulations.
“This is the city coming into compliance with recent legislative changes,” said Prosser. “It provides clarity to our residents, but there’s no change to our regulations.”
The visit was routine, Prosser said, and is done as part of a community assistance program roughly every five years to provide guidance to cities on their flood protection ordinances.
Three main parts of the ordinance were updated–two concerning disclosure to property owners who reside in areas that are at risk of flooding and one that directs owners on how to determine the base flood elevation for their properties.
The first component instructs the city to advise residents that noncompliance with the ordinance can be punished as a misdemeanor. The second component mandates the city to provide information to property owners who live in flood hazard zones on how to calculate the height of the water level near their property in preparation for a worst-case scenario such as a 100-year flood, a storm that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.
The final updated component guides the city to notify property owners that building a property in a flood hazard zone may require them to pay a higher insurance rate.
There are currently 40 federally insured flood insurance policies issued in Campbell, although the number of properties in flood hazard zones outnumber that. Most are structures that are located immediately adjacent to the city’s three main waterways, which include portions of Los Gatos Creek, San Tomas Aquino Creek and Smith Creek.
Campbell has been a participant in the national flood protection order since 1976. The national flood insurance policy was passed by Congress in 1968.
The second reading of the ordinance will take place on Aug. 14. If approved, the ordinance would go into effect in mid-September.
City council doesn’t want its residents washed out, updates flood ordinance
