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I'm thinking the older floodplain maps did not show this area to be in either the 100 or 500 year areas, otherwise I doubt the city would have approved it.
There is no such thing as a 500 year flood plain. There are 100 and 25 year ones - which basically translate to a 1% or 4% chance of flooding in any given year. The city prohibits SFR construction in 25 yr. plains, but allows them in 100 yr. floodplains in subdivisions recorded before 9/25/83 - which all of these are. Now what the city wants to do is to buy all homes in either the 25 or 100 year area.
Which begs two questions - first, are we now setting a precedent that if you live in a 100 yr floodplain - now or in the future - you can expect the city to buy your house? Does that occur now, or after it floods? And second, if this is a priority, why isn't the answer to make $108 million in other spending a lower priority? Why is the answer always to hit the citizens for more money?
Actually, it doesn't. Most of the Onion Creek watershed is rural. It the largest watershed in the area at 211 sq. mi, and the least developed at 2.9 street mi./sq. mi.
You will have to find some other reason to justify this tax spending. The development angle doesn't hold water. So to speak.
Being the least developed doesn't mean that the development it has had (due to unique geography) an inordinate and outsized influence. (I'm not sure if that's the case or not, but your assertion doesn't "hold water" without more information).
Flood hazard areas identified on the Flood Insurance Rate Map are identified as a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). SFHA are defined as the area that will be inundated by the flood event having a 1-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The 1-percent annual chance flood is also referred to as the base flood or 100-year flood. SFHAs are labeled as Zone A, Zone AO, Zone AH, Zones A1-A30, Zone AE, Zone A99, Zone AR, Zone AR/AE, Zone AR/AO, Zone AR/A1-A30, Zone AR/A, Zone V, Zone VE, and Zones V1-V30. Moderate flood hazard areas, labeled Zone B or Zone X (shaded) are also shown on the FIRM, and are the areas between the limits of the base flood and the 0.2-percent-annual-chance (or 500-year) flood. The areas of minimal flood hazard, which are the areas outside the SFHA and higher than the elevation of the 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood, are labeled Zone C or Zone X (unshaded).
They are not recognized in City of Austin land use regulations, so what is your point? And more important, should the city buy properties that have a .2% chance of flooding in a year? Isn't that what insurance is for?
Just saw a home listing in this area that included:
"Home was damaged during Halloween floods of 2013. Completely remodeled since. Elevation certificate in place, flood insurance only $110 per month."
ONLY? Mind you is for a home where the owner is only asking for $130k .
Well, if it is in a 100 yr. flood plain, it would take 100 years of premiums to equal that value. Discounting the almost assuredly low value of the land in that situation, sounds about right.
You don't want to complain to folks in the coastal areas of Florida about increases in flood insurance, mainly due to losses from Sandy nationwide.
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