FEMA has notified the City of Biloxi to comply with the agency’s advisory flood elevations, which enlarge the flood zone and increase elevation requirements as much as 25 feet above sea level, or risk losing tens of millions of dollars in FEMA recovery funding.
The City Council in April 2006 passed a water-down version of FEMA’s advisory base flood elevations, known as ABFEs, which FEMA published a month after Hurricane Katrina to update the agency’s 23-year-old flood maps being used in Biloxi.
The council sidestepped FEMA’s recommendation and required that new homes constructed in flood-prone areas be elevated three feet above the existing one-foot over the so-called “base flood elevation,” or BFE, which is the probable level that flood waters may reach. The council’s measure did not enlarge the flood zone, as FEMA advised.
In its memorandum this week, FEMA amplified the need for the city to enact the advisory elevations.
“Although the ABFEs will be made available on an advisory basis for use by state and local governments in their recovery efforts in general,” the Feb. 6 memorandum states, “activities implemented under FEMA Public Assistance and Mitigation programs must comply with the data. From the date of this memorandum, the mandatory use of ABFEs for funding activities under FEMA programs will be effective for all locations where FEMA has issued ABFEs following a Presidential declaration of a major disaster.”
Mayor A.J. Holloway originally asked the council to approve the issue in February. Councilmembers tabled it twice before the scaled-back version was passed in April.
“This is an emotional and difficult issue and it’s one of the biggest ones we face.” Holloway said before the vote. “Raising the elevation is going to increase the cost of construction and may make it impossible for some homeowners to rebuild if their lots are too small.
“But with the tremendous amount of federal money our congressional delegation and our governor have been able to secure and with the outpouring of support and sympathy we’ve seen from across the country, we must be accountable. We must use this money to build back better and in way that will minimize the level of destruction we’d see in most storms. We do not want to be perpetual victims.
“To say that this will protect us from the next Katrina is not correct, but we’d certainly be better prepared the next time. Either way, it’s going to be a difficult pill to swallow.”
To read the entire FEMA memo received this week, click here.
To see flood-elevation maps and hear FEMA’s methodology on setting flood elevations, click here.
City Council to meet Tuesday
Two special-called meetings of the Biloxi City Council are scheduled for Tuesday. In the first, at 5:30 p.m., Mayor A.J. Holloway will ask councilmembers to approve up to $2.5 million in matching funds to help attract a grant from the Mississippi Development Authority for a park and visitors center near the Biloxi Lighthouse.
The council has called a special meeting for 6 p.m. to discuss potential amendments to the city’s Land Development Ordinance. Among the elements of the LDO that councilmembers propose to specifically discuss are those governing height, density and parking.
To see the agendas for both meetings, click here.
BHA unveils affordable housing proposal
The Biloxi Housing Authority this week unveiled an ambitious proposal that could include as many as 1,577 new housing units.
To read BHA’s presentation, which was made during a special meeting of the City Council on Tuesday morning, click here. To appreciate just how far the housing authority has progressed in its storm recovery, read the authority’s initial damage assessment by
clicking here.
News and notes
Night at the Museum: Mayor A.J. Holloway is scheduled to cut the ribbon this evening at 6 at the Glenn L. Swetman Home to formally open the transitional location of the Ohr O’Keefe Museum of Art. To find out more about the free event,
click here.
Stately address: Readers of The Bay Press today are seeing notice of Cable One’s Tuesday broadcast and info about the city’s web site. To see the two-sided newspaper insert, which will be delivered to Biloxi Sun Herald subscribers Tuesday, click here.
Young love: The Parks & Recreation Department will host a Sweethearts Ball and Dance for those ages 6-12 on Wednesday at the Synder Center. For details, click here.
Grave news: The city is hoping that FEMA will soon give the final OK for a project to restore a 40,000-square foot section of the Biloxi City Cemetery. For background on the work,
click here.
Parade policies: Sgt. Jackie Rhodes of the Biloxi Police Department outlines safety tips for attending Coast Mardi Gras parades in this week’s City Desk webcast. To listen, click here.
