- Failure to adopt the Rate Maps would suspend the city from the National Flood Insurance Program, making access to insurance more difficult for Ithaca property owners, according to Lisa Nicholas.
- The City of Ithaca website now includes the updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps going into effect later this year. The map added about 650 residential properties to the list of those at risk of flood.
- Attend the meeting in-person April 16, sign up to speak remotely or submit a written comment to the council by 5 p.m. Wednesday to get your concerns or comments about the project out.
Ithaca’s Common Council will vote to adopt new FEMA flood maps and update floodplain management regulations at 6 p.m., on Wednesday, April 16, at Ithaca City Hall.
The proposed law, adopting FEMA’s new Flood Insurance Rate Maps, would go into effect June 18, so long as the council sends it to the DEC by May 19.
“This legislation would set the boundaries for the 100- and 500-year floodplains,” city Director of Planning Lisa Nicholas said at the April 9 Ithaca Common Council meeting. “We’re repealing and replacing in full because these regulations were given to us by FEMA through the DEC and they represent the minimum standards for regulating floodways to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.”
Federally backed mortgage holders are required to purchase flood insurance for properties in the 100-year flood zone.
“The bulk of the law lays out the duties of the floodplain administrator as it pertains to issuing floodplain development permits,” Nicholas said. “In order to do that, they have to say where new permits are required, and that’s where we adopt the new map.”
How the change could affect property owners
Failure to adopt the Rate Maps would suspend the city from the National Flood Insurance Program, making access to insurance more difficult for Ithaca property owners, according to Nicholas.
The national insurance program provides flood insurance to over 22,000 communities across the United States that have agreed to adopt and enforce updated floodplain management regulations.
The city of Ithaca website now includes the updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps going into effect later this year. The map adds about 650 residential properties to the list of Ithaca properties with a flood risk.
City Manager Deb Mohlenhoff said April 9 that affected residents have already been contacted by their insurance providers.
Stay updated on flood planning
Residents can attend the meeting in-person April 16, sign up to speak remotely or submit a written comment to the council by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Ithaca officials are encouraging Tompkins County residents who rent a living space to consider contents-only flood insurance which can protect personal items in the event of a flood.
The county is in the process of creating a webpage displaying preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map changes for all county residents.
Flood insurance information is available through FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program online at fema.gov or FloodSmart.gov.
Flood mapping process has been in flux for years
City officials have reviewed FEMA’s map modeling throughout the process, which began in 2015 when FEMA announced it would be updating area flood maps.
The city responded by convening a working group including the United States Geological Survey, (USGS) which performed its own flood study, which showed a significant increase in the flood inundation areas within the city compared to previous city flood maps, last updated in 1981.
The city hired the engineering firm Barton & Loguidice to use the USGS study and evaluate various mitigation strategies, and the results were published in February 2020.
In February 2022, and again in January 2023, FEMA published draft and preliminary flood maps using the same flood modeling techniques used by the USGS resulting in similar but more extensive flood inundation areas.
The city has conducted a technical review of FEMA’s modeling since, initiating a Letter of Map Revision process to adjust assumptions that may have overstated the flood risk reflected in the maps.
