HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 24-1856INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
No. 24-1856
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
June 4, 2024
Page 1 of 4
SUBJECT: STORMWATER CRITERIA MANUAL, FLOODPLAIN ORDINANCE,
AND GRADING PERMIT ORDINANCE UPDATES
This Informal Report is provided to inform City Council in advance of an upcoming Mayor & Council
Communication (M&C) and public hearing requesting adoption of updates to the Floodplain
Ordinance, Grading Permit Ordinance, and Stormwater Criteria Manual. This report provides a
summary of the updates recommended by City staff. Preparation of these updates included
extensive collaboration and coordination with stakeholders and development community
representatives. Additionally, this report provides an update on the communication of Non-FEMA
Flood Risk Mapping.
Floodplain Ordinance
In 2018, the Stormwater Management Program began an initiative to determine how to
communicate non-FEMA flood risk information and how to regulate small sized developments
(under 1 acre) in non-FEMA flood prone areas. The initiative was developed due to increasing
instances of property owners and developers outside of the FEMA floodplain being surprised by
flood events impacting their properties and development plans. In many cases, these impacts could
have been minimized and/or prevented had communications and regulations regarding flood risks
in these areas been consistent with the means of communication and regulation in FEMA
floodplains. The significant, and often undefined and uncommunicated, risk of flooding outside of
FEMA floodplains is a nationwide issue.
Since that time, Stormwater staff have held public and community group meetings to discuss and
receive feedback on non-FEMA flood risk communications and regulations and worked closely with
stakeholder groups, including the Real Estate Guidance Group and stakeholder groups associated
with the American Council of Engineering Companies, Floodplain Management Plan, Stormwater
Master Plan, and Stormwater Program. The stakeholders consisted of residents, developers
engineers, lenders, appraisers, title lawyers, insurance agents, surveyors, developers, and builders
and included the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, the Greater Fort Worth Association of
Realtors, the Fort Worth Builders Association, the Development Advisory Committee (DAC), and
the Tarrant Appraisal District.
The goals of the stakeholder engagement efforts were:
1. To ensure full understanding of the pros and cons of communication and regulatory
changes;
2. To clarify regulatory standards and processes;
3. To determine the process necessary to administer and communicate the changes; and
4. To gather feedback to shape recommendations and minimize unintended consequences.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
No. 24-1856
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
June 4, 2024
Page 2 of 4
SUBJECT: STORMWATER CRITERIA MANUAL, FLOODPLAIN ORDINANCE,
AND GRADING PERMIT ORDINANCE UPDATES
Communicating Non-FEMA Flood Risk Areas provides transparency of the flood risk information
the City has so that residents and developers can use the same information to inform their decision
making. If the proposed regulations were in place in Fiscal Year 2023, 22 commercial and 28
residential building permits would have had to comply with the proposed City Flood Risk Area
(CFRA) regulations ensuring safer development that also minimizes flooding impacts on existing
development.
The proposed updates to the Floodplain Ordinance will incorporate regulations for properties in
Non-FEMA CFRAs because these areas were identified by drainage basin flood risk mapping that
is based on detailed engineering. At this time, all development of any size within FEMA floodplains
undergoes detailed review, as well as any development outside of FEMA floodplains with land
disturbance of 1 acre or more. The proposed CFRA regulations will affect all development activity
on less than 1 acre and located in a CFRA. Such development activity will require:
• Elevation of structures two (2) feet above the 100-year flood elevation, and;
• Submission of a certificate from an engineer to document that the development will not
cause increased flood risk to neighboring properties.
CFRAs are typically identified in older parts of the City, such as inside Loop 820, where storm
drains were not designed based on current standards and affect both residential neighborhoods
and commercial districts. In practice, CFRA regulations will apply to development activity ranging
from fences, accessory structures, room additions, and new construction, up to commercial or
mixed -use site development projects on less than 1 acre. Approximately 10% of the City within
Loop 820 has undergone detailed engineering analysis of urban flooding conditions, which mapped
approximately three and a half (3.5) square miles of CFRA.
The proposed regulations may cost property owners/developers more to build in CFRAs since
finished floors of structures will be required to be built 2 feet above the 100-year flood risk elevation,
the same requirement for building in other areas of flood risk across the city. Based on FEMA
research, it will cost an estimated $28,000 to $37,000 more to elevate a 2,000 square -foot home 2
feet above a 1 foot deep flood risk. However, building above the 100-year flood risk will eliminate
the costs associated with repairing a flooded home. Based on FEMA data, repairing a home that
flooded from 12 inches of water can cost an estimated $57,000.
The City plans to also refine Potential High Water Area (PHWA) flood risk mapping over time to
better communicate and regulate non-FEMA flood risks. As PHWAs are evaluated in detail, they
will be refined and converted into regulatory CFRAs. Depending on needs and resources, the
Stormwater program would like to evaluate one or two PHWA drainage areas per year. Areas for
evaluation would be prioritized by flood risk.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
No. 24-1856
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
June 4, 2024
Page 3 of 4
SUBJECT: STORMWATER CRITERIA MANUAL, FLOODPLAIN ORDINANCE,
AND GRADING PERMIT ORDINANCE UPDATES
The Non-FEMA CFRA 100-year inundation limits were published near the end of 2022 on the City's
Flood Risk Viewer website:
https://gisapps.fortworthtexas.gov/Html5Viewer/?viewer=CFW Flood Risk Viewer
Additionally, citywide Non-FEMA PHWA mapping was added to the City's Flood Risk Viewer
website (link above) in March 2024. The updated Flood Risk Viewer and PHWA mapping will be
communicated via the website, emails to stakeholders and neighborhood organizations, social
media posts, and City News. Additionally, the information will be included in annual flood risk
notification letters mailed in September to roughly 19,250 property owners and renters living in
FEMA floodplains and roughly 5,150 property owners and renters living in CFRAs. Letters are also
mailed to a few other areas where repetitive flood insurance claims have been made.
For reference, Informal Report No. 10236 (February 5, 2019), Informal Report No. 20-10383 (March
27, 2020), Informal Report No. 20-10443 (June 23, 2020) and Informal Report No. 22-120 (August
16, 2022) provide background on the Non-FEMA flood risk mapping, regulation evaluation, and
stakeholder engagement.
Grading Permit Ordinance
Coordination and collaboration with development community representatives started 3 years ago
on the proposed updates to the Grading Permit Ordinance to make the permitting process more
efficient and effective. The most significant improvement is that this update will replace the Final
integrated Storm Water Management (iSWM) Plan requirement with a grading permit, eliminating
one step in the development review process. In addition, the updates will produce the following
benefits:
Clarify submission requirements and apply review requirements uniformly across
development projects;
Better define Early Grading Permits and clarify requirements; and
Clarify exemptions and simplify processes for public infrastructure.
Stormwater Criteria Manual
In 2019, the Texas State Legislature passed House Bill 3167 which amended Chapter 212 of the
Texas Local Government Code. The new law required, in part, for developer construction plans to
be approved by the City Plan Commission, to place a "shot clock" on review and approval deadlines
for developer construction plans, and for any review comments on construction plans to cite to
specific laws, regulations, or design criteria when the construction plans were not approved by the
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
No. 24-1856
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
June 4, 2024
Page 4 of 4
SUBJECT: STORMWATER CRITERIA MANUAL, FLOODPLAIN ORDINANCE,
AND GRADING PERMIT ORDINANCE UPDATES
City. During the 88t" Texas Legislative Session, the state law was amended to remove these
requirements. While no longer mandatory, City staff and development representatives have
maintained self-imposed review deadlines and clear regulations that can be cited to during
construction plan reviews. To that end, City staff have prepared revisions to the Stormwater Criteria
Manual to ensure that the City's requirements are clear and can be easily cited in construction plan
review comments.
In addition, staff recommends changes to the Stormwater Criteria Manual based on new data and
information, lessons learned from how current regulations are implemented, and to integrate the
proposed revisions to the Floodplain Ordinance and the Grading Permit Ordinance. The proposed
revisions will provide clarity to the development community, and help to ensure development and
public infrastructure design contribute to a safe and sustainable Fort Worth.
Throughout the process, staff engaged with external and internal stakeholders to coordinate and
receive feedback on document revisions. Draft documents were coordinated with the DAC for
review and comment over the past three years.
A summary of the updates to the Stormwater Criteria Manual include:
• CFRA guidance and regulations are incorporated;
• Final iSWM Plans are no longer required;
• Drainage studies are better defined and introduced as a separate submittal to replace iSWM
plans;
• Use of specific types of polypropylene pipe in lieu of concrete pipe are allowed;
• Stormwater detention facility maintenance requirements are defined;
• Runoff coefficients for more dense residential developments are updated;
• Easement sizing regulations are revised; and
• Administrative procedures for processing applications and conducting pre -submittal
meetings are revised.
Redline and clean formatted versions of the documents can be found at
https://www.fortworthtexas.gov/departments/tpw/stormwater#regulationupdates
For additional information, please contact Stephen Nichols, Stormwater Program Manager, at
817-392-7598.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER
FORT WORTH, TEXAS