FEMA to detail flood control concerns to Sutter supervisors
Sutter County supervisors will get a full accounting of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's issues with the county's flood control regulations at a hearing next month.
On Feb. 21, both FEMA and county staff will have a study session for the board laying out what the agency found in a visit last year and detailed in a subsequent letter dated Dec. 23.
Dan Peterson, the chief of the county's division of water resources, said the session will also help the county form a required response to the letter, spelling out how the county will solve the issues FEMA identified.
The deadline for responding was Feb. 29, but county officials said the federal agency has allowed an extension, to March 13.
FEMA's letter stated the agency found 14 noncompliant buildings. Among the problems the agency discovered were incorrect calculations of improvements, missing elevation certificates and construction lacking permits within a designated flood zone.
"Most of the deficiencies are paper work," Peterson said, and so should be relatively easy to fix. Issues such as the buildings without permits will be more difficult to solve, he said.
Sutter County has to correct the problems in order for the county to stay in good standing with the federal government's flood insurance program. Under the program, property owners in special hazard flood zones receive a discount on flood insurance premiums.
The south part of the county, which is where FEMA found the violations, is considered a special hazard flood zone.
County officials have said FEMA indicated such letters are not unusual, and Peterson said Thursday the county should be able to solve the issues the agency identified.
Officials have said in some cases the deficiencies FEMA officials found stemmed from the relatively recent designation, and in others from property owners who included measures addressing flood protection in their plans they later didn't follow.
The letter also noted much of the county's ordinances for buildings to meet floodplain standards actually exceed what the federal government requires. Property owners will receive notice of the FEMA letter.
