Flood Plains

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One of the first things you should check when evaluating a land site for a development is to see if the site is in a flood plain.  FEMA provides a great, user-friendly, and quick website where you can quickly see if your land is in a flood plain or not.  The website is https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search.  It provides an interactive map where you can just type in the property address or cross streets and will it will bring up a map of any flood plains in the area. 

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LOMR

If you have a flood plain on your site, and you still want to develop on it, you could bring in fill dirt to try to raise portions of the site out of the flood plain, but that option is typically going to be very expensive.  You would also then have to apply to FEMA to get a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) to document that your site was raised out of the flood plain.  Getting a LOMR is a lengthy process, usually around 6 - 9 months, adding additional administrative and carrying costs, which would be in addition to the hard costs of raising the land out of the flood plain. 

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Next Page: Environmental Survey

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