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Washington County Flood Plain Administrator Eric Ashlock presented a resolution for adoption and ratification of the county's Floodplain Regulations.

This presentation was given to the Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday morning.

Ashlock said the county's Floodplain Board met on Thursday, Nov. 7th and elected to remove the two-foot free board from the local Floodplain Regulations. He said that puts them in line with Federal regulations for the Floodplain.

Washington County had already exceeded the Federal limits. Ashlock said this will give citizens living in the Floodplain some choices as far as if they want to be up a foot, two feet, three feet or four feet high without the county mandating the extra two-feet like they used to.

With the final approval of the Washington County Commissioners, the two-foot free board from the Floodplain Regulations was ratified. Ashlock said this will go into effect on Tuesday, December 31st.

Reflecting on last May's flooding, Ashlock added that the Floodplain Board prioritizes safety first. He said one structure was significantly damaged last spring, and most of the structures that they saw in the Floodplain were "grandfathered in" from the prior regulations, so they were lower than the base flood elevation.

The Washington County Floodplain Board, however, discovered that none of the structures that were meeting or exceeding base flood elevation had flooded. Ashlock said your home is one of the most valuable things you have, and if that floods, it will cause you grief. He said Floodplains are not normally great to build a home in, but they do serve the purpose of filtering out water and adding wetlands.