Using Multi-Objective Management to Reduce Flood Losses in Your

Planning and zoning
Comprehensive plans and land use plans specify how a community should be
developed (and where development should not occur). Through these plans, uses
of the land can be tailored to match the land’s hazards. For example, flood hazard
areas can be reserved for parks, golf courses, backyards, wildlife refuges, natural
areas, or similar uses that are compatible with the natural flooding process.
Plans like these usually have limited authority. They reflect what the
community would like to see happen. But they can be powerful because they
shape the character of other local measures, such as capital improvement
programs, zoning ordinances, and subdivision rules.
A community’s capital improvement program identifies where major public
expenditures will be made over the next 5 to 20 years. Capital expenditures may
include acquiring land for public uses, such as parkland, wetlands, or natural
areas, and extension or improvement of roads and utilities. These publicly funded
projects should not aggravate flooding. In fact, they can reduce
For more
information on the
agencies and
organizations,
check the
M.O.M. Resource
Directory or see
Appendix A. See
Appendix B for
more information
on the references
listed.
flooding by, for example, enlarging a culvert opening while a
road is being repaired.
A zoning ordinance regulates development by dividing the
community into zones or districts and setting development criteria
for each district. The floodplain can be designated as one or more
separate zoning districts in which development is prohibited or
allowed only if it is not susceptible to flood damage. Some
districts that are appropriate for floodplains are those designated
for public use, conservation, agriculture, and cluster or planned
unit developments that keep buildings out of the floodplain,
wetlands, and other risky or sensitive areas.
To Find Out More > > Technical advice about planning
and zoning can also be found at your local, regional, or state
planning agencies. The American Planning Association and its
state chapters can provide technical assistance to its members.
Open space preservation
Keeping the floodplain free from development is the surest way to prevent flood
damage. Open space preservation should not be limited to floodplains, because
some sites in the watershed (but outside the floodplain) may be crucial to
controlling runoff that adds to the flood problem. Areas that need to be preserved
in a natural state should be listed in land use and capital improvement plans.
Existing undeveloped areas can be preserved as open space through zoning
ordinances. Lands that ought to be set aside as open space but are already being
put to other uses can be converted to public ownership (acquisition) or to public
use (easement). Once the land is owned by the county, municipality, or state,
buildings and other development subject to flood damage can be removed or
prohibited. With an easement, a private owner is free to develop and use the
property, but agrees to not build on the flood-prone part or the part set aside in
the easement. In exchange, property taxes are reduced or a payment is made.
Open space lands and easements do not always have to be purchased
outright. Developers can be required to dedicate land to the public for a park
and/or to provide easements for flood flow, drainage, or maintenance. These are
usually linear parcels along property lines or channels. Maintenance easements
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