FEMA's elevation rules get parish OK
Affect new structures, those badly damaged
The St. Tammany Parish Council has adopted
FEMA-recommended elevations for new construction in most of the
unincorporated areas that flooded during Hurricane Katrina.
The measure, adopted without discussion at the end of
Thursday night's council meeting, applies to new homes and
businesses and those that were substantially damaged and are being
rebuilt. It does not apply to homes and businesses that were less
than 50 percent damaged and are being repaired.
The new base flood elevations, which previously were
voluntary, take effect Monday, parish officials said. They said
that in most areas of the parish that flooded during Katrina,
elevations required for new construction will be 1 foot higher than
the previous base flood elevation, which is the minimum federal
standard for avoiding a 100-year flood.
Maps showing the new elevations can be viewed online
by going to www.fema.govhazard/recoverydata/katrina/katrina la
sttammany and typing in St. Tammany where the page says "Search
FEMA."
In adopting the new requirements, the council
exempted six subdivisions in the southeastern corner of St. Tammany
where the Federal Emergency Management Agency has recommended more
dramatic increases in elevations. The subdivisions -- old and new
Kingspoint, Lakeshore Estates, Lakeshore Village, Treasure Isle,
Avery Estates and Rigolets Estates -- will continue to fall under
the old FEMA guidelines, parish spokeswoman Suzanne Parsons
Stymiest said.
Parish officials feel that the elevations recommended
for the six subdivisions will cause hardships for homeowners. For
example, the recommended elevation for Avery Estates, Kingspoint
and Lakeshore Estates all increased by 4 feet, Stymiest said.
Stymiest said three of the subdivisions are protected
by levees, and parish officials believe that should have been
considered by FEMA in setting the new elevations.
She said Lakeshore Estates is protected by an 18-foot
levee. The recommended base elevation for the subdivision has
increased to 17 feet, which parish officials say would result in
increased wind exposure to new houses.
Parish engineers are working with FEMA "to work out
some of the problems we have" and establish more reasonable
elevations in the six subdivisions, Stymiest said.
Two of the municipalities in the areas flooded by
Katrina, Mandeville and Madisonville, have adopted the new
recommended elevations. The Slidell City Council will hold a public
hearing Sept. 12 to consider adopting them. Covington is not in the
area where new elevations have been advised.
The recommended elevations were issued as an advisory
in November by FEMA, which said the data from last year's
hurricanes and the past 35 years suggest that current base flood
elevations aren't adequate to protect St. Tammany's coastal
developments.
Since then, when issuing building permits parish
officials have been advising residents to voluntarily follow the
new guidelines. Those guidelines become mandatory Monday, except in
the six exempted subdivisions.
The Louisiana Recovery Authority is requiring local
governments to adopt the new recommended elevations to qualify for
federal recovery dollars.
The measure approved by the council requests that the
authority not disqualify the parish from those dollars because of
the exclusion of the six subdivisions.
To view the online article, please click on the
following link.
St. Tammany Parish Advisory Building
Elevations
