Submitted by San Juan County Department of Community Development

The county has received draft digital flood map layers from FEMA that include base flood elevations. The county has begun to use the base flood elevation information in the DFIRMs rather than requiring a determination from a federal agency. The draft DFIRMs will assist in determining whether a proposed development is located within a flood hazard area and will also specify base flood elevation without the need for a determination from the US Army Corps of Engineers.

The DFIRMs are available on Polaris, the County’s GIS mapping program. To view the DFIRMs and determine base flood elevations, find the property you are interested in and add the “draft flood insurance map” layer to the map. The draft flood insurance map layer is found under the critical areas tab in the map content menu on the left side of the screen. Using the “information ( i )” button, click on the flood area and then tab through the tables to find the base flood elevation for that area.

The Department of Community Development policy regarding flood hazard area and base flood elevations is found here: http://sanjuanco.com/DocumentCenter/View/1672.