Laserfiche WebLink
FEMA Region 10 <br />FAQ: Rescinded Policy on Fish <br />Enhancement Structures in the FloodwayWANNNONOMM09SE09" <br />17 � =� - --� <br />Answers to common questions about the former regional policy and FEMA's decision to <br />rescind it, effective August 17, 2020. <br />Acronyms <br />BFE <br />Base Flood Elevation <br />CFR <br />Code of Federal Regulations <br />CLOMR <br />Conditional Letter of Map Revision <br />H&H <br />Hydraulic and Hydrologic <br />LOMR <br />Letter of Map Revision <br />NFIP <br />National Flood Insurance Program <br />SFHA <br />Special Flood Hazard Area <br />What was the intention of the former policy? <br />Fo- more infcrmation on the National <br />Fiood insurance Prograim and the terms <br />used in this FAQ, prase visit FEMA.gov or <br />contact your local floodplain adr►-iinistratar. <br />The intention of the Policy on Fish Enhancement Structures in the Floodway, issued by FEMA Region 10 in 1999, <br />was to make it easier for local communities to issue floodplain development permits for fish habitat restoration <br />projects in the floodway if those projects met certain criteria. Under the former policy, if an applicant provided H&H <br />analyses and a feasibility study demonstrating that a habitat restoration project would cause a rise in BFE that could <br />not be avoided through redesign, but was both miniscule and had no effect on structures, a community could permit <br />the project without requiring a CLOMR prior to construction or a LOMR once the project was complete. <br />BACKGROUND <br />The regional policy was issued around the time that many Pacific Northwest salmon species were listed as <br />Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The former policy intended to provide additional support to NFIP <br />communities in their review of floodplain development projects designed to restore, enhance and protect the critical <br />habitat of threatened salmon. Fish habitat restoration projects often occur in the regulatory floodway, a portion of <br />the SFHA where NFIP permitting requirements are the most rigorous. NFIP regulations prohibit the permitting of <br />floodway development unless a community first obtains and reviews H&H analyses certifying that the proposed <br />development will not cause a rise in the BFE anywhere in the community. These analyses are essential to ensuring <br />that floodway development, including habitat restoration, will not cause unknown changes to the flood risk <br />communicated by a community's flood maps. If H&H analyses show a rise in the BFE and the community still wishes <br />to permit the development, federal regulations require a CLOMR and LOMR to alert FEMA to these changes to the <br />maps, a process that adds to the costs and timeline of a project. The former policy attempted to make the <br />permitting process for habitat restoration projects less burdensome by allowing a waiver of the CLOMR/LOMR <br />requirement for some projects. <br />aFeh�l�ti <br />T <br />FEMA <br />qhD 5� <br />