By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen has unanimously approved amendments to the city’s Zoning Ordinance that update its procedures designed to ensure flood damage prevention.
Board members took the action during their March 9 regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman Don Lowry and seconded by Alderman John Perales.
The amended ordinance was unanimously passed on first reading at the board’s Feb. 9 meeting.
It states that the board considers it necessary to minimize the danger to life and property because of flooding and to maintain the city’s eligibility for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.
On Jan. 20, the Millington Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on its proposed amendments and voted to recommend the board’s approval of them.
At that meeting, Cole Yoders, GIS coordinator and inspector in the city’s Department of Planning and Economic Development, told the commission that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its Tennessee counterpart had provided text for an update of floodplain zoning ordinances in the state’s municipalities.
Millington’s ordinance, titled, “Flood Damage Prevention,” is in Title 14, Chapter 10 of the Municipal Code.
It now requires an application for a development permit to include a detailed cost estimate.
In a flood event, this estimate will ultimately determine if improvements or damages meet the
“substantial” criteria.
If the cost to improve a structure equals or exceeds 50 percent of its market value before the initial improvement begins, the damage will be considered “substantial,” requiring “substantial” improvement.
The cost estimate must be submitted in one of the following forms:
(1) itemized costs or estimates of materials and labor that are prepared by licensed contractors or professional construction-cost estimators;
(2) building valuation tables published by building code organizations and cost-estimating manuals and tools available from professional building cost-estimating services;
(3) a qualified estimate of costs that is prepared by the local official using professional judgment and knowledge of local and regional construction costs; or
(4) a detailed cost estimate prepared by the building owner that includes as much supporting documentation as possible.
The amended ordinance also requires a Finished Construction Elevation Certificate after construction is complete and before a Certificate of Occupancy is issued.
The fee for an appeal has been increased from $200 to $500.
Jared Darby, director of Millington’s Planning Department, is the city’s floodplain administrator.
He has said the city is responsible for the administration and “operational control” of its floodplain ordinance. So, it will “manage” all the requirements.
Because the ordinance deals with an “environmental overlay zone,” Darby has also said there is “little to no” actual Shelby County code and construction building permit “operation” involved.
