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Came across a house for sale. It is 4+ acres with residential building completely out of floodplain according to the FEMA maps I checked. There is very small creek along the back property line, with barn and almost 2 acres in the back being in floodplain.
I am liking this property a lot because I want to start aquaponics/organic produce business (in a greenhouse).
Have couple questions for the pros:
1 - Is it permissible to build greenhouses on floodplain? Base I am planning to have concrete at least partially where the beams/pillars are going to be plus the setup for thermal mass heating.
2 - Is it possible to legally "move" the dirt around? Can I dig an acre (1 foot deep) within the floodplain and dump the dirt back to other acre lifting it up a little? Came across retention ponds strategy how farmers are digging ponds inside floodplain. My understanding is it is permissible as long as dirt goes back to the area within the floodplain (with no additional dirt coming in).
Please share your thoughts if it is possible to lift 50% of the land a little without causing any legal issues or any other way of having greenhouse on property with a peace of mind my investment is not going to waste if we end up having lot of rain.
A lot of what you are proposing will be dependent on the local authorities, probably your county. It will have to meet both zoning requirements and flood control approval. You will likely have to get a variance.
It is unlikely that they will approve your plan without a lot of work and planning and it will be illegal to do it without approved plans. It certainly is possible to move flood plains around with the proper engineered grading and drainage plans, I have seen it down many times, but it can be very expensive. A good grading and drainage plan could be $5k or $6K before you ever put one shovel in the ground. It is not about the dirt, but water. The water needs to enter, exit or stay on your property in the same fashion as nature has intended. You cannot affect anything up or down stream.
Before you purchase the property I would sit down with your local zoning authorities and discuss your plans. They will either give you a direct NO, or they will guide you toward what you will need to do to get it approved. If you are in a hurry to purchase the property, make the sale contingent on approval.
What you can and can't do will depend on local/state ordinances. In Oregon ground/surface water is controlled by the state, so any changes have to go through a process with them.
What you can do will depend upon state and local regulations. In Michigan, a permit would be needed from the state in order to alter the floodplain as you have suggested.
I have family in Texas if that is where you are talking about.
Flood plain maps were redrawn not long ago so I guess you have the recent ones.
I do know there is to be no land alteration without full compliance with the ordinance.
In general, in some places only the Army Corps of Engineers can disrupt a flood plain.
Some places you need local and EPA permits to disturb a flood plain area.
Some allow disturbance...as long as you create what you disturbed somewhere else.
In another state, we discovered some work being done during a time when area agents said "we're not on a witch hunt" so they forgave the action. However, during the same period, on the other side of the state, agents were working in one area and looked over a line of trees and noticed something on the other side that should not be done. They made a big deal about fining in that case.
That's a giant expensive hole you are contemplating. Call an engineer that does platting and land development work in your county on a regular basis. You can get a ballpark on cost and legal realities without talking to government folks directly. Flood Plain can mean a lot of different things. Typically every part of a city/county will have a flood zone designation based on the FEMA map and each designation has an entirely different set of building standards on base elevations for building, types allowed, etc..
I'd say stay far away from moving dirt in a floodplain without a licensed engineers stamp on the plans and a permit. I once saw a guy "fill in some low areas" and level a path to a beach. In 2 days of bulldozer work he managed to do enough to get charged with violating 29 separate Local, State, and Federal laws. Those low areas were called wetlands by Fish and Wildlife. The path was through a hurricane protection sand dune line.
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