Deadline is June 30
The staff of Sarasota County’s Stormwater Division is inviting community members to review and provide comments on the Floodplain Management Plan (FMP), the county has announced
The FMP was redeveloped and then adopted by the County Commission in January 2019, “to help community members reduce or eliminate flood risks on properties and become resistant to coastal, riverine and urban flooding,” a news release explains.
The FMP must be updated every five years, but to better align it with the county’s Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS), “which helps to prevent or minimize future emergency flood impacts, the FMP is being updated early,” the release points out.
“In combination with the Mitigation Strategy, the FMP serves as a guiding document that identifies and analyzes a wide range of mitigation actions and projects for flood protection,” the release adds.
Among those initiatives could be public outreach and potential infrastructure construction, the release says. “They are intended to reduce the impact of flooding on new and existing residential or commercial buildings. Each project included in the LMS ensures that when funding becomes available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or other grant funding programs, the county is eligible to receive funding for approved projects,” the release explains.
All projects are reviewed, evaluated, updated by the FMP Committee, and then updated in the LMS, the release notes.
Community members are encouraged to familiarize themselves with flood protection, review the FMP and submit comments in regard to the next update and evaluation report, the release says. Comments will be accepted through June 30; they may be emailed to Community Rating System (CRS) Coordinator Donna Bailey at dabailey@scgov.net.
To learn more about flood protection, mitigation and insurance visit scgov.net (keywords flood protection) or call the county Contact Center at 941-861-5000.