More on floodplain management +my mission

Today I'm going to be touring the Maricopa County Planning department and meeting with the previous intern to figure out how I can finish up some GIS (mapping software that planners use) work she began. I think it's going to be some data entry and some GIS work. I will get to use my skillz!

The GIS files the County uses include land parcels, flood zones, and geographic markers like roads etc (example below). Not all of the flood data is currently implemented in the official FEMA maps- some is waiting to be accepted. Small changes to flood maps, such as if a property owner thinks their property should not be in the floodplain, can be submitted to FEMA in a LOMA ( Letter of Map Amendment) request. Changes updating floodplain delineations for large areas are submitted through inter-agency processes.

"An important part of an area analysis is to work with the property owners. Therefor, the area should be delineated, where possible, to include existing neighborhoods or neighborhood organizations, even if this means extending the boundaries of the area to be analyzed beyond the drainage basin boundaries."
From Reducing Damage from Localized Flooding- A guide for Communities, FEMA 2005

Yesterday, a coworker from Guatemala (who's really awesome) took me to get my badge and then showed me what goes into a floodplain land use application. In addition to contact forms for the property owner and any third-party permit-prep agency, maps showing the proposed project are required, along with maps showing the flood zone in which the property is located. While some projects are only required to elevate their house or building 1-foot above the floodplain, others have to get raised up to 2 feet depending on the expected elevation of the water, its velocity, and the topography of the site.