2026-0271
INTRODUCED BY: MATTHEW JEWELL, PARISH PRESIDENT
(DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & ZONING)
ORDINANCE NO. __________
Title
An ordinance to amend the St. Charles Parish Zoning Ordinance of 1981, Section XX. Flood damage prevention. to reestablish the effective "Flood Insurance Study for the Parish of St. Charles" and accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps revised June 16, 1992, for the purpose of determining minimum building elevations for development within Sunset Drainage District and to add 0 feet NAVD88 as the lowest permitted elevation.
Body
WHEREAS, Ordinance 92-4-23 adopted the effective Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Maps for St. Charles Parish, which identified the Sunset Drainage District as a X-shaded zone; and,
WHEREAS, Ordinance 13-7-7 requires that "for the purpose of determining minimum building elevations, the Preliminary Digital Flood Insurance Rates Maps (DFIRM) referred to in The Flood Insurance Study for the Parish of St. Charles, stamped Revised Preliminary November 9, 2012, shall take precedent over the effective FIRMs where they are more restrictive"; and,
WHEREAS, this Preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map is a higher regulatory standard than the National Flood Insurance Program requires; and,
WHEREAS, this higher regulatory standard makes the minimum building elevation in some existing neighborhoods of the Sunset Drainage District as high as 10 feet above the ground; and,
WHEREAS, since 2013, the St. Charles Parish Board of Zoning Adjustment has granted 207 variances from this higher regulatory standard in the Sunset Drainage District; and,
WHEREAS, there are approximately 150 vacant lots in existing subdivisions or family plots within Sunset Drainage District that are suitable for in-fill development of houses and mobile homes; and,
WHEREAS, if the higher regulatory standard remains, developers of these lots are likely to seek variances; and,
WHEREAS, the concentration of variances that have alread...
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