2026-10-19 - Planning Board

All right. Um Laura, if you could do the roll call for us. >> Yes, sir. Ryan Neath >> Here. >> George Stanziano Dick Vassilino Tammy Hunsucker >> Here. >> Clark Patton >> Here. >> Jeff Rigdenhill >>

Here. >> Cameron White >> Here. >> We do have a quorum. >> All right, very good. Um hopefully you've all seen our brief agenda. Um I'll entertain a motion to approve. I'll make a motion to approve.

And a second? >> Second. >> All right, all in favor? >> I. >> I. >> All opposed? Thank you. Uh the minutes um they were well done and there was a lot in there. Um hopefully everyone had a chance to

get any change requests. Um if we can uh get a motion to approve the minutes as presented. >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as presented. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I.

>> I. >> All opposed? And on to our item of new business, this case 2625. >> Put my glasses on. Uh good evening, chair and staff uh and planning board. Tonight, staff is presenting proposed amendments

to chapter 151 of the town's flood damage prevention ordinance. These amendments are based primarily on the 2026 uh state NFIP model ordinance and are intended to update the state's the town's

regulations to reflect current flood plain management requirements and the upcoming state flood map changes. The updated flood insurance rate maps are scheduled to become effective February 5th, 2027.

The 20 The town must have a compliant flood plain regulation in place by the date by that date to maintain participation in NFIP program which is essential to continued access to federal flood

insurance and certain federal financing and post disaster assistance programs. The proposed amendments distinguish between changes that are necessary to maintain NFIP compliance and optional local

standards that staff is uh is proposing. Uh currently we hold a class seven in the CRS program and with some of these optional languages that we can sort of make our way closer to getting our class

six goal. So staff is asking the board to review the proposed amendments, provide direction on the optional provisions and the recommended approval with approval just straight up approval, approval

with modifications, denial, or tabling for additional information to the resolution. So with that said, I'll take any questions you got on what is in the packet. >> All right, thank you very much. >>

You're welcome. >> Does anyone have any questions on the on this item? It sounds like it's a bit of we can mix and match but we can't change the wording. >> Just the optional stuff you can uh like I

said, with staff thought that was good, it was low-hanging fruit for CRS credits. >> Mhm. >> A lot of the stuff we're already doing in house anyway. We just we don't get credit for it until we

actually have it in writing. >> And this is also been through the UDO. It was part of the UDO. >> It's part of the UDO. This is actually a standalone document. And once the UDO gets to its final

stages, then we'll just wrap this back into I think it's chapter six. of the UDO. >> But we're not the first to put our eyes on it. >> No, it's been through the steering committee and everybody else's

a lot of other people have put their eyes on it, so. And the state's vetted vetted it with their legal staff. They think it's great, so. >> All right. Any questions for staff? >> I am I'm in the weeds

because I don't understand something. >> Okay. >> It's page 80 of the packet. And towards the bottom where it says at the top of page 81. It's in two. Can you explain this section to me about points

and how they apply? >> Down on on the top of 81? >> Yeah. >> Okay, these let's see what is it? That's the non-conversion agreement. Okay, so what we have here is basically if you have somebody that

they have a structure in the flood zone say it's elevated. What you have this the homeowner do is sign a non-conversion agreement which is basically saying that at no time will they convert it. So the

point breakdown is that one, they fill out the non-conversion agreement which is uh submitted to the tax office. And then the second part of that is that we have the right to go inspect it. And we

have to show records to the CRS folks that we we have a record of you know all these non-encroachments or non-encroachment, non-conversion agreements. And that, you know, we're they're subject if we

have one and that we have inspection records of them. And that, you know, that's basically how it all breaks down. So, if we don't if we don't have if we just have it in the ordinance and we're not

going to inspect anything, get like 30 points. But, it's it's really up to the CRS staff as how how far how many points we get to get. That's like say the maximum we can get. So, I don't know if that

made any sense to you. >> I'm just curious about the why you were asking for this modification. It makes sense to me what you're saying. >> Yes, and we don't it's it's one of those things again that

it's it's just language in there. Most people that are building either elevate it and have no intention we don't very seldom run into somebody that has an elevated house that the the bottom floor is,

you know, less than the flood plain regulations. But, in the event that we do, we have the language and we can move forward from there. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Could you give us a

brief background on points and how they relate, I guess, to a the community flood rating? >> Yes, I There are 10 classifications for a CRS. Right now the town's at a seven. So, and you get so many

points, one for like outreach. In in the case of the ordinance it's a higher higher standard. So, there is points various points for that. So, the more points you get, the lower you become in class.

So, right now we're at a class seven where folks in the state or in the flood plain that have flood insurance are getting a 15% discount. If we get to a class six, you get a 20% discount. So, all this

optional language is to me is low-hanging fruit that it people to get lower discounts or greater discounts on their flood insurance. So, the more points you can get as far as like green space,

preservation, you know, storm water preservation and and regulations more stricter on those, then you can get more points for that. And there's just a plethora of opportunities to get points. And

while we can update this flood damage prevention ordinance, we can get half a chance to get some other points in on that as well. So, we're trading >> Mhm. >> sort of stricter regulations for saving

the taxpayers' money on their flood insurance. >> Okay. >> But it's only a certain percentage of taxpayers, correct? Cuz not everybody would be in the flood zone. >> But but if you do have flood, it

it can you can't it counts as well. I mean, there's people that have flood insurance that aren't in a flood zone. So. >> Yeah, I'm I'm one of them. >> Yeah. >> Right? I mean, I didn't fully understand

that at all. And why not? It's It's relatively cheap at that point. And I understand the the this will maximize um or potentially head towards maximizing. Um the real question is is the town doing

everything they can do on the flip side instead of increasing regulations on somebody and what they do on their own property. >> Yes, there's a there's a whole activity for CRS called uh outreach. >>

Mhm. >> And that is posting stuff on social media, newsletters, sending letters out to property owners in flood zones. I mean, everything we can do to educate people, you get more and more points for

that. So, we're continuously doing that, which doesn't always, you know, translate into a higher higher standard. And like storm water, like if we have record that, you know, our our ditches or town's

ditches are being cleaned out on a regular basis, we get points for that. I mean, it's So, there's no This is the only thing that's really tied to higher regulations. There's so much other stuff that

that we do that that does not tie into higher regulations, but >> Yeah, I think it's just important for people to note that and understand that >> Yeah. >> before you set forth what seems like another

regulation for them. >> Well, yeah, and and and like a lot of the stuff we do in here now, like some of the optional language that we've added that staff added for the uh elevation certificates, we're

already doing that now. We just don't get credit for it. I mean, like we we require you know, pre-construction elevation certificates, under construction elevation certificates, and finals. We don't

get credit for those unless it's in writing. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Nope. >> Um one that this just reminded me, this is one of the few where the town didn't go for the higher number of points

uh of the all the options, and I'm assuming the uh administrative burden of annual inspections of all the properties probably isn't worth the number of points you pick out for that. >> That is

correct. It's It's very cumbersome and time-consuming on staff, and it's just It's one of those things where once you get to like a class six >> Mhm. >> if they go any lower, it requires you to have a

full-time staff member just doing CRS. >> Okay. >> for that so. >> Okay, so the town did look at all of them and decided at least some of them weren't worth the administrative burden. >> Yes. >> to

get the maximum points. Okay. Thank you. Any further questions? Any discussion? Any thoughts? Um Can we go back to page 10 that I think has our motion or options? Options. There we have four options.

Someone would like to make an emotion based on one of those four options? Yeah, I'll make to make a motion to adopt resolution recommendation recommending approval of the proposed Chapter 151

amendments as presented? >> I'll second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I don't see any. All in favor? Aye. >> Aye. >> All opposed? It's unanimous. All right,

thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> And I believe the next thing is board comments. So, I'll start to my right. >> Um I guess >> Oh, um oh, I'm sorry. Is there public comment on the agenda? There

probably is. No public comment on the agenda? Okay. Sorry. Didn't mean to. >> Uh the only thing I was going to say is that I just think on something such as as this being proposed and put in place

that um it's important to make sure that everyone understands what the town is doing already in the sense of hey, we're trying to maximize everything we can that is also low-hanging fruit that we can

do without costing money, but to save money, too, cuz that's an important thing. If I were to just look at something without even having a clue what I was looking at, hey, looks like you're maybe

adding something else to me, but in reality, I'm not fully understanding what's going on. So, I think it's just important to throw those things out there along the way. >> All right, thank you.

Cameron? >> Sorry I missed last month's meeting. >> That's all right. >> I think it was probably one that I should have been present for. Aligned with the decision made by the committee and would like

to see the commissioners policy. >> Well, it sounds like we might see it again. >> No comments, sir. >> Okay. Um staff, thank you very much. Great presentation. Um thank you for explaining it more

down to our level. Let Let us understand what that was going on. Thanks for finding ways to help to save the taxpayers money as much as they can when they go out and get flood insurance. >> Yep, thank

you. And it's nice to see this process seems to be reaching the nearing the the end of the process after quite a while. And uh I look forward to the final implementation. All right, with that uh are

there um staff comments? Good evening. No. Oh, no. >> Thank you. Yeah, just want to um get in the routine of doing some updates on the department so that you guys are aware of what we're doing. Uh

just to know things going on and transparency for the town. Um Jeremy and Laurel are working through Evolve projects right now, which is an update to our permitting software. Um that should allow us

to tie in zoning permits with building permits and improve processes in the department. Laurel is also working through updates to the HPC guidelines. Um streamlining some of our permit reviews. Uh and

that should bring some much-needed changes to HPC review. And then Brad and I are also working on some code enforcement policy updates. So, those are current things going on in the department. If you

guys have questions about things that we do in the day-to-day, uh we're open for communication. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Just a question. Or Jeremy probably said so or somebody has and I

should know, but are the proposed flood maps that the new ones, are they available online to be viewed? >> Yes, if you go to friz.nc.gov, um that is where all those maps are posted. You can see the

effective and the preliminary map and flip between them. >> Can you spell that for me? >> f r i s .nc .gov >> Can we put a link to it in the town? >> On the town's page? >> On the page. All right,

thank you. >> And that actually gives us CRS credit, so that's a good idea. >> Yeah, I mean >> Yeah, just so you know, you have to toggle you have to toggle between effective and preliminary. >> Yes.

>> Well, that's something we can put on like Facebook or whatever for the >> Yes. >> everybody So, effective is what's current. >> Yes. >> Preliminary is what's proposed. >> Correct. >> Would you say

there was a good number of changes in the uh the current from >> >> Thank you, both. >> Thank you very much. And with that, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion. Okay, we have a motion. >>

Second. >> We're all in favor, say aye. All opposed, we are adjourned. Thank you.