Hearing April 13 on flood proposals

The Waterbury Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Monday, April 13, about plans to revise the community’s flood regulations.

The hearing starts at 7 p.m. at the municipal offices on the second floor of the Main Street Fire Station, 43 S. Main St.

The amendments are intended to make Waterbury more floodproof and flood-resilient than it was when Tropical Storm Irene clobbered the town in 2011.

Residents and business people are encouraged to either attend the hearing or contact the planning department at 244-1012 with questions, concerns or comments.

The proposed amendments are posted at waterburyvt.com and paper copies are available at the municipal offices.

Among the proposals:

• A ban on fill or development in the floodplain that would affect flooding predictions in a 100-year flood.

• A requirement that new buildings, and existing buildings getting major renovations, have a ground-floor level at least a foot higher than expected water levels in a 500-year flood. That would be about 2 feet above Irene’s flood levels.

Here’s how Waterbury town officials describe the changes:

• No net rise to the base flood elevation (BFE – 100-year flood level) as a result of placing fill or other development in the floodplain. 

• New buildings and existing non-historic buildings that are substantially improved (an investment of 50 percent or more of the pre-flood market value) must be elevated so that the lowest floor is at least one ft. above the 0.2 percent chance flood (500-year flood level). In the village of Waterbury, this is approximately 2 feet above the Tropical Storm Irene flood level.

• New basements below the BFE are prohibited.

• New garages or first level parking can be constructed with the floor at or below the BFE as long as this lowest level is designed to be flooded with minimal damage to the structure.

• Existing buildings that have nonsubstantial improvements (an investment of less than 50 percent of the pre-flood market value) may need a zoning permit. If a zoning permit is needed, the criteria are very basic and it is not required to ether elevate the lowest floor of the building or fill in the basement.  

• Historic buildings that are currently listed as contributing structures to our historic districts or can be proven to be eligible to be included as federally approved historic buildings, and are substantially improved, would no longer be exempt from the substantial improvement criteria but would have a “variance” review process, whereby the requirement to elevate the lowest floor of the building could receive a variance from the Development Review Board, and not be required. However, other criteria would be required for approval, such as elevating utilities or making sure they are floodproofed. In addition, foundations must be either floodproofed or reconstructed so they won’t collapse in a flood. The basement does not have to be filled in; however, these criteria must be met to address the issues that affected many historic structures that were damaged by Tropical Storm Irene.