By Cody Miller, GHBA Director of Government Affairs
A recent Houston Chronicle article has generated a lot of conversation about development, floodplains and the process of removing land from FEMA’s mapped floodplain. Flood risk is an important issue, and it’s one local homebuilders, developers and homeowners take seriously. Unfortunately, the article leaves out some important context about how development is actually reviewed and regulated in our region.
The story gives the impression that developers can simply bring in fill dirt to remove land from a floodplain when the reality is that fill is just one piece of a much larger engineering process. Before a new community is approved, developers complete extensive hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, design detention facilities, comply with local drainage criteria and undergo review by local governments. If a Letter of Map Revision is requested, FEMA also independently reviews the supporting engineering before any changes are made to its flood maps. This is a highly regulated process involving licensed engineers, local governments and FEMA.
The article also overlooks how much floodplain regulations have evolved over the past decade. Harris County, the City of Houston and several neighboring counties have strengthened their drainage requirements to help ensure new development does not increase flood impacts on surrounding properties. Many of these jurisdictions also follow “no adverse impact” policies, meaning developers must demonstrate their projects will not shift flood risk from one area to another.
The article points to communities where thousands of homes have been removed from FEMA floodplains and notes that many are in higher income areas. An explanation for this is that these communities have simply accounted for much of the Houston region’s residential growth over the last decade. Where more homes are being built, there will be more FEMA map revisions.
The engineering requirements don’t change based on the price of the home. Whether a development serves first-time homebuyers, working families or custom home buyers, it must meet the same drainage standards and go through the same regulatory review process.
One point the article gets right is that being removed from a FEMA floodplain doesn’t eliminate flood risk. No engineer, developer or public official can guarantee that any property will never flood. FEMA flood maps are regulatory tools based on modeled storm events and not guarantees of future performance.
At the end of the day, GHBA members live, work and build in communities across our region. They want to build resilient neighborhoods that meet or exceed local standards while continuing to provide attainable housing for the next generation of homeowners.