Ocean City Adopts ABFE Flood Maps

City Council on Thursday unanimously passed the first reading of an ordinance that adopts the advisory flood maps that so many Jersey Shore property owners and city officials have questioned.

The Advisory Base Flood Elevation (ABFE) maps determine zones for building guidelines (at what elevation homes must be constructed to be safe from floods) and for flood insurance premiums. But they're acknowledged to be only a work in progress. 

The ordinance that City Council approved on Thursday is an updated and detailed flood damage prevention ordinance (see attached PDF for full text) — something required in order to remain in good standing with the National Flood Insurance Program and to maintain community discount levels.

The language of the ordinance is recommended by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and includes adoption of the ABFE standards.

Executive actions by Gov. Chris Christie have already made the ABFE map the effective elevation standard for any new or substantially rebuilt home.

Ocean City's ordinance "recognizes the reality that we already have to build to ABFE anyway," City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said.

She said that when preliminary and final flood maps are released, City Council will have to make minor amendments to the ordinance to adopt the new maps.

The advisory version of the map, released in January in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, places large sections of Ocean City, even on the bay side of the island, in V Zones (Velocity Zones), named as such because they would be susceptible to damage from waves of at least three feet during a hypothetical 100-year storm.

The advisory maps are based on elevations but don't take into account mitigating factors such as dunes, bulkheads and neighboring buildings. A substantial number of Ocean City properties potentially could be removed from V Zones as FEMA refines its maps.

In February, City Council approved on revisions to the flood map in Ocean City.

Another element of the new ordinance is a section that defines the 50-percent threshold (if repair costs exceed half the assessed value of a structure, it must be elevated to a height designated on the ABFE map). The section designates a five-year period for improvement costs. Any repairs or improvements within the five years must be counted toward the 50-percent threshold.

City Council will consider a second and potentially final reading of the ordinance after public comment on April 25.