News
Feds Reject Natomas Flood Zone Designation
Written by Dave Marquis, ReporterThe Federal Emergency Management Agency has rejected a flood zone designation request by the City and County of Sacramento. FEMA is instead asking for a more restrictive level of zoning that will include federal mandates on development.
"That means that there would be no new building in new growth areas," said Sacramento City Councilman Ray Thretheway, who represents the Natomas area.
The so-called "A-R" zoning designation would also require any in-fill residential housing to be built three feet above the existing ground level. Commercial development would face the same restriction unless the first three feet of the structure was completely water-proofed.
Another change: homeowners would be required to buy flood insurance -- something the city has been asking them to do for the last seven months. The city is urging residents to ask for a preferred rate while they still can, at a savings of up to two-thirds.
Councilman Tretheway says it is now even more urgent that the governor sign Senate Bill 276,which would help Sacramento reach 200-year flood protection. The governor has until Sunday to sign the legislation but has indicated he has reservations over cost-sharing between local governments and the state.
Tretheway said Sacramento has already come up with much of the money needed in advance.
"We have been the poster child of local planning, local assessments. All we need is the state's help and we can pull off flood protection as we expect to, in 2010," said Tretheway.
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FEMA Denies Levee Exemption In Sacramento
(AP) SACRAMENTO Federal flood regulators have ruled that Sacramento cannot continue to allow developers to build without restrictions in one of the city's most flood-prone sections.
The decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency was a blow to the city and Sacramento and Sutter counties. In June, the governments requested leniency because they are working to strengthen the Sacramento River levees in a broad floodplain north of downtown.
The levees in the Natomas section do not offer the minimum protection required under federal law.
In a letter to the city, FEMA Assistant Administrator David Maurstad said Sacramento might be allowed to build in the area under certain conditions. Those would include building in existing neighborhoods as long as structures are elevated by three feet and requiring residents to buy flood insurance.
Local governments were forced to apply for special buildings exemptions after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers withdrew its endorsement of the levees that protect Natomas last year.
The agency determined that the levees did not provide 100-year flood protection. An area with 100-year protection has a 1 percent chance of a catastrophic flood in any given year.
The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency began work this summer on the first part of a $414 million project to upgrade the area's levees to 200-year protection.
(© 2007 The Associated Press.)
FEMA Denies City Special Zoning Designation
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The federal government has denied new construction in the north Natomas area.
FEMA denied the city a special zoning designation called A-99.
Sacramento had asked to continue building in the basin's wide, open spaces.
The thousands of homes that are already going up will not be impacted by the decision.
But those in the planning stages cannot be built.
The decision is a victory for environmentalists who want to see more levee protection, before more houses are built.
"I think they realized this is an important national precedent, and they really couldn't give a deal to Sacramento," said environmentalist Ron Stork.
The city of Sacramento is now applying for a more restrictive permit that would allow building to continue. But FEMA's decision on that permit could take months.
Copyright 2007 by KCRA.com.
FEMA Denies Levee Exemption In Flood-Prone Area Of Sacramento
POSTED: 5:59 pm PDT October 11, 2007
UPDATED: 8:58 pm PDT October 11, 2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Federal flood regulators have ruled that Sacramento cannot continue to allow developers to build without restrictions in one of the city's most flood-prone sections.
The decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency was a blow to the city and Sacramento and Sutter counties. In June, the governments requested leniency because they are working to strengthen the Sacramento River levees in a broad floodplain north of downtown.
The levees in the Natomas section do not offer the minimum protection required under federal law.
In a letter to the city, FEMA Assistant Administrator David Maurstad said Sacramento might be allowed to build in the area under certain conditions. Those would include building in existing neighborhoods as long as structures are elevated by three feet and requiring residents to buy flood insurance.
Local governments were forced to apply for special buildings exemptions after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers withdrew its endorsement of the levees that protect Natomas last year.
The agency determined that the levees did not provide 100-year flood protection. An area with 100-year protection has a 1 percent chance of a catastrophic flood in any given year.
The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency began work this summer on the first part of a $414 million project to upgrade the area's levees to 200-year protection.
