AN ORDINANCE relating to floodplains; adopting interim regulations consistent with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regulations; adopting updated National Flood Insurance Rate Maps to allow individuals to continue to obtain flood insurance through FEMA’s Flood Insurance Program; and amending Chapter 25.06 and Section 25.09.030 of the Seattle Municipal Code.
Agenda Item five Capital 119832 relating to floodplains adopting interim regulations consistent with the Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations adopted. Updating excuse me, adopting updated national flood insurance rates map to allow individuals to continue to obtain flood insurance or PHENIX Flood Insurance Program and amending Chapter 25.6. Section 25.0 9.0307 of the code. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I will pass Council Bill 119832. Is there a second second? It's been more than seconded to pass the bill. Councilmember Strauss, you are the prime sponsor of this bill and there are no amendments. So you are recognized in order to address this item. Thank you. Council President. This legislation is federally required by FEMA in order for the city to continue participating in the National Flood Insurance Program. In February, Femail published updated flood insurance rate maps and new flood insurance study for King County. This requires all King County jurisdictions to update their floodplain regulations to comply with the National Flood Insurance Program. This legislation would adopt a few FEMA recommended changes on an interim basis in order to meet the federal deadline of August 19. While Stsci prepares the permanent record regulations, recommendations on permanent regulations are expected within the next six months, as this is an interim measure that is federally required to keep us in compliance with federal regulations. Thank you. Council President. Thank you, Councilmember Strauss, for those remarks. Are there any additional comments on the bill? Councilmember Herbals. Thank you. So I just want to say a few comments because of the 185 properties that are being added with this update. 131 of those properties are in District one. 44 of them are single family properties. Eight are low rise one and two, and the rest are commercial or industrial. Although this legislation does make it possible for people to apply for national flood insurance under the national flood insurance rates, and that those the the the insurance varies from property to property. The average in Washington is about $700 a year. And without being on on the flood map, you can't take advantage of of getting flood insurance. This legislation also requires properties to get flood insurance. We've contacted DCI to find out whether or not there is flood insurance for low income individuals whose property is now deemed to be in the flood flood zone. At this point, there is no such assistance program. And I just want to I just want to flag for the interest in the interest of transparency, the fact that there are a lot of impacts to property owners in District one. And and although there is a benefit from this legislation in that property owners in in in the flood zone on the map can apply for flood insurance, whereas you can't if you're if you're not on the map, the downside is it requires you to apply apply for flood insurance. So I understand that that's a that's a difficult position for some folks. And I'm going to I'm interested in continuing to find out more about whether or not there are options for low income individuals who are responsible for this increased insurance. Thank you. And. Q Councilmember Herbold, are there any other comments or questions on the bill? Seeing and hearing none. I would ask that the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill. Lewis. Yes. Morales. Yes. Let's get to. Yes. Peterson Yes. So what? Yes. Strauss. Yes. Purple. Yes. Whereas. Uh. Yeah, I guess. President Gonzalez. I think I think, I guess counts as a yes. Madam Clerk. Yes. All right, that's better. Thank you. You get two binary options. Yes or no? My line is yes. Nine. I'm fluid. All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The bill passes and the chair will sign it. I'd ask that the clerk please fix my signature to the legislation on my behalf. Okay, colleagues, we have reached the part of our agenda for other business. Is there any other further business to come before the council? No. Okay. Councilmember Lewis. All right, Madam President, I did just want to publicly recognize and thank Captain Sims on my staff for all the work on that commercial lease legislation. I, I forgot in my closing remarks to say that. But I do think it is important to recognize that the staff members on the second floor who are so critical to the legislative process and assure from central staff work as well. So thank you for indulging that. Thank you for taking a moment to acknowledge staff. Always an important thing to do if we want to see things continue to get done. So appreciate that, Councilmember. Data, please. I think council president. I think you've done a really good job of this in. Convening weekly and having these conversations remotely. We know that it's hard out there with so much stress happening, with both COVID related health concerns, economic concerns and increasing demands for calls for us to respond to civil rights demands upon our entire nation. And I just want to say how much I appreciate everybody in these stressful times. We've seen a lot of reports about how important it is to take care of yourself, be kind, be respectful, and continue to push for change. But to take care of each other and to take care of one another, we don't care that enough. So thank you for all of the messages that you've sent about supporting one another and being kind and respectful in this time when we are in very stressful conditions. And I know that the Council is trying to respond to many of the pressing issues here, but just want to say how much I appreciate all of you and to our community at large. Thank you for continuing to take care of our neighbors. And just a reminder to be kind of nice. Thank you, Councilman Muscat, for those remarks. Any other business to come before the council? I want to echo those sentiments. Last week I sent out a couple of messages to our legislative department. One was to remind folks to engage in self-care. This is stressful work that we are engaging in. I appreciate all of you. And, you know, we may have policy disagreements, but at the end of the day, I deeply and profoundly respect each one of you as my colleagues and as residents of the city of Seattle and just really appreciate the opportunity to continue to work with all of you on some of the toughest issues facing our our constituents. So remember to also engage in self-care and to remind your staff to engage in self-care as well, and looking forward to continuing to work with all of you on the issues that are going to be barreling our way over the next few weeks. So with that being said, colleagues, this this does conclude the items of business on today's agenda. Our next city council meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 27th, 2020 at 2 p.m.. I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon and a good rest of your week with friends, family and staff . We are adjourned. Thank you, everybody.