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The ability of some rural Ward County residents to access federal flood insurance is at stake in decisions facing Ward County and certain townships.
The Ward County Commission agreed Tuesday to notify townships of conditions being placed on participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), as outlined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the county in recent correspondence.
One of the conditions is the community with the land use authority must participate in the NFIP. That participation includes having floodplain management rules in place. A large number of townships have agreements with the county to provide planning and zoning so fall under county rules for floodplain management and are unaffected.
However, about 17 townships handle their own planning and zoning and half of those also handle their own building permits.
Carbondale, Eureka and Gasman are the only townships with identified floodplain within their boundaries, said Travis Schmit, assistant county engineer. Those townships also do their own planning and zoning.
Schmit noted if those three townships allow construction that doesn't meet floodplain standards, it could eventually affect the county's insurance rating that helps keep premiums down.
FEMA requires not just those three townships but all townships to have requirements on their books that follow NFIP standards. Building permits in all townships must indicate the properties meet rules for flood-risk safety.
"They would still have to have our ordinance adopted that says they are following the minimum state requirements, which is one foot of freeboard, even though they don't have any floodplain," Schmit said.
Townships with their own zoning could adopt their own ordinances, or the county could adopt a blanket ordinance, Schmit said. But as long as an ordinance is in place and the county reviews the floodplain permits in the townships for compliance, that should enable residents to purchase federal flood insurance and townships would be eligible for FEMA disaster assistance, he said.
It also was noted that FEMA continues to revise the floodplain maps since the 2011 flood, and the result could be more floodplain identified in the townships in the future.
Schmit stressed that township residents currently aren't being barred from buying flood insurance.
"This is telling all of them that if they don't adopt a higher standard than where we are at today, they will not be able to in the future," he said. "If we don't enact something, they may lose that privilege."
Commission Chairman John Fjeldahl raised concern about overreach in applying rules to townships that don't have any designated floodplain.
"I don't have a problem in the defined areas we have right now - in those three townships. This is going way beyond," he said. "Let's see if the townships understand that and if they are OK with that."
The county will reach out to townships to obtain input, seeking a response by the end of April.