MANASOTA & PEACE RIVER BBDs Meeting Notebook 10-21-09.docx

M118
FEMA Map Modernization Management Support
Project Type FEMA/Map Mod.
AOR(s)
Flood Protection
Basin(s) General Fund (District), Alafia River, Hillsborough River, Northwest Hillsborough, Coastal Rivers,
Pinellas-Anclote River, Withlacoochee River, Peace River, Manasota
Cooperator(s)
Project Manager TURNER, DAWN
Task Manager(s)
Status Ongoing
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Description
This project is to provide management support for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood insurance
rate map (FIRM) modernization projects throughout the District (please reference projects M101-M116). Under these
Map Modernization projects the FIRMs will reflect updated flood hazard risk areas and be modernized to a digital
product. The updated flood hazard risk areas are being developed by the District through the 1) Topographic
Information, 2) Watershed Evaluation, and 3) Watershed Management Plan elements of the District's Watershed
Management Program (WMP). Map Modernization management support (MMMS) funds supplement the ongoing
activities already being performed by staff including, but not limited to coordination and effort in building partnerships,
information technology systems, program management planning, hydrologic and hydraulic review, and outreach.
Benefits
The WMP provides a method to evaluate the capacity of a watershed to protect, enhance, and restore water quality
and natural systems, while achieving flood protection. The information developed provides the science for the District's
Resource Management and Environmental Resource Permitting (ERP). It assists local governments: 1) With their land
management responsibilities by establishing a level of service and developing Best Management Practices (BMPs) to
address level of service deficiencies. 2) Provides a Geodatabase and projected results from watershed model
simulations for floodplain management and water quality management. The FIRMs are used by local governments for
land management and building permitting to satisfy the minimum requirements of the National Flood Insurance
Program.
Costs
The total amount for MMMS is $1,013,240 to be funded by FEMA. The District has received a total of $713,240 in
FEMA MMMS to date that has been included in the Governing Board's FY2005, FY2006, and FY2007 budgets as
revenue. District Staff anticipate an additional $150,000 to be funded by FEMA for ongoing MMMS activities in both
FEMA's FY2008 and FY2009 ($300,000 in total). Each year FEMA notifies the District how much funding is available
for MMMS. The District funding amounts shown in the table represents staff salaries.
Additional Information
The WMP includes five major elements: 1) Topographic Information, 2) Watershed Evaluation, 3) Watershed
Management Plan, 4) Implementation of Best Management Practices, and 5) Maintenance of Watershed Parameters
and Models. Implementing elements of the WMP with local governments is one of the Comprehensive Watershed
Management (CWM) initiative strategies and one of the District's Strategic Priorities. The District is cooperating with
FEMA to modernize the FIRMs throughout the District. Staff has worked with the FEMA to improve and formalize the
District's relationship with a federal agency that shares flood protection responsibilities. FEMA and the District
executed a Cooperating Technical Partners (CTP) Memorandum of Agreement on September 14, 2001. As a CTP,
the District is eligible for federal grants and matching funds to further efforts to modernize the FIRMs. Each year the
District enters into a cooperative agreement with FEMA for MMMS funding that defines the activities that will be
performed. $250,000 in funding (grant EMA-2004-CA-5038) for FY2005 is being used to provide a meeting facilitator
for ongoing coordination meetings between the water management districts, FEMA Region 4, and the Florida
Department of Community Affairs; develop a District-wide FIRM paneling scheme; determine the feasibility of
expanding the District's role in distributing digital FIRMs to the public; maintaining the digital FIRMs; and revising the
FIRMs simultaneously with the ERP application review. For FY2005, a total of $300,000 was actually budgeted in the
General Fund with associated revenue. The $50,000 difference between expected funding and actual was rolled into
the FY2006 budget. For FY2006 FEMA has granted (EMA-2005-CA-5244) the five water management districts
$120,000 in MMMS to hire an outreach facilitator and develop design storm rainfall depth criteria for the entire State.
The District will manage the project and contract with consultants on behalf of the other water management districts.
In addition, the District received additional MMMS ($144,000) in FY2006 to support outreach efforts, allow the District
to develop quality control/quality assurance tools, and support staff travel to meetings and conferences related to this
effort. For FY2007, the District has received $129,620 from FEMA (grants EMA-2006-CA-5631 and
EMA-2006-CA-5624) for continued travel support, outreach efforts, management assistance, and an XML-based
export to for the District's Geographic Watershed Information System to populate FEMA's database. The District has
recently received an additional $69,620 under EMA-2007-CA-5723 for continued travel and programmatic assistance.
020 - Peace River Basin 368