CITY & COUNTY
Top city & county stories to watch in 2023
FEMA ood map, MAAPnext release expected in 2023
OTHER STORIES TO FOLLOW IN 2023 THE 2022 BOND PACKAGE All three propositions were approved Nov. 8. More details on bond projects are expected in 2023.
FLOOD MAPS: FROM MODELING TO ADOPTION The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Harris County Flood Control District have been working on concurrent ood mapping projects for Harris County. MAAPNEXT PROJECT (completed) Work on HCFCD's Modeling, Assessment and Awareness Project begins. 2019 The HCFCD reports being 70% done with ood plain maps, projecting FEMA will release preliminary maps in spring or summer 2022. May 2021 Jan. 25, 2022 The HCFCD reports being 96% done with its work and shifts its projection for FEMA’s map release to summer or fall 2022. Feb. 22, 2022 The HCFCD says it has sent mapping data to FEMA. FEMA expects to release preliminary ood insurance rate maps, or FIRMs, in 2023, at which point the MAAPnext dashboard goes live. HCFCD and FEMA will hold open houses. 2023 RELEASE OF PRELIMINARY MAPS 18-24-month period after release: • Residents have 90 days to provide feedback on the FIRMs, which may be revised before being nalized. • Communities have six months to adopt or amend ood plain ordinances based on the new FIRMs. SOURCES: HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT
BY RACHEL CARLTON
HARRIS COUNTY The Federal Emergency Management Agency will release Harris County’s preliminary ood insurance rate maps sometime in 2023, according to Harris County Flood Control District o cials. The HCFCD projected in a May 2021 update that FEMA would release the maps in the spring or summer of 2022, but has continually pushed back its estimate. FEMA o cials could not con rm a speci c release date. Local ood control entities partner with FEMA to provide information for those maps, which show ood risk and mandate ood insurance in high-risk areas. HCFCD Planning Division Director Ataul Hannan said FEMA’s maps have not been updated countywide since 2007. Work on the countywide update began in 2019 with the advent of the Modeling, Assessment and Awareness Project, or MAAPnext, which uses updated rainfall and topographic data to create comprehensive maps and ood risk tools that residents will be able to access with an online dashboard. O cials said MAAPnext’s dashboard will complement the release of FEMA’s maps. A process will then begin to revise the maps before they become o cial in late 2024 or 2025. Early in that process, residents will have 90 days to comment on the maps, and communities will have to adopt or amend their ood plain management ordinances.
Proposition A Proposition C
Proposition B
$100M for public safety facilities
$1.2B TOTAL
$200M for parks
for roads, drainage and multimodal transportation $900M
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY OFFICE OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATION COMMUNITY IMPACT
Harris County to initiate work on projects for $1.2B bond package The Harris County Engineering Department is working with the O ce of County Administration to develop an implementation strategy and process for bond projects from the $1.2 billion in bonds approved by voters Nov. 8. Some projects will be bid and assigned in 2023.
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