Customized Public Meeting Notice for Property Owners Affected by Floodplain Studies

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

Flooding in the United States is the most common natural disaster affecting people’s lives and properties. The Flood Control District of Maricopa County (FCD) was established in 1959 to help reduce flood risk in Maricopa County for its residents and their property. One of the functions of the FCD is to update floodplain studies to send to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). FEMA uses these studies to prepare new or update existing floodplain maps. When updating or preparing new floodplain maps, part of the FEMA requirement is notifying the public of these changes. Sometimes these changes in the floodplain status can affect thousands of property owners whereas, other floodplain map studies may only affect a few property owners. A customized flier was developed to improve the public notification and outreach process by helping residents understand how revisions in the floodplain maps will specifically affect them. This program surpasses the federal required regulations for public notification process for revising floodplain maps. We developed the customized fliers for a floodplain delineation study that affected over 4300 properties in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. For each of the 4323 properties, we prepared and mailed a customized flier that showed an aerial photo of the property with the existing floodplain map and the proposed floodplain map. This customized flier helped residents understand exactly how the proposed floodplain map changes would affect their property. Some comments from the public included: o “I thought the new GIS based maps are fantastic” o “Great idea! It lets homeowners know this applies to them specifically and isn’t just junk mail or a solicitation” o “Property map got my attention and made me come to your meeting.” The additional and property specific information also allowed residents to determine if they needed to attend the public meetings on the delineation study.