Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Let's see. I call the March 17, 2026 meeting of the Suffach Planning Commission to order. This meeting is televised and video recorded for public viewing. Uh we'll open with the invocation by Commissioner Hicks.

Let's pray. Lord, we come to you today first saying that we love you and we thank you for this another day that you've made. We thank you for life, health, and strength and for continuing to sustain this city, this country, and yes, this world. We ask that you would wrap your big arms around us all as restore peace if it be your will. Guide those who are leading and keep us all safe in the meantime. And while you're doing all that, Lord, stop by here in Lilo Suffk in this moment and in this hour and lead us successfully through today's agenda. We trust that you will and we bless you for it. We bless you for that and all other things. In your son's name we pray. We do give thanks. Amen.

Amen.

Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We have two public hearings today. Public hearings are for 30 minutes, 10 minutes for the proponents, 15 minutes for the opponents, five minutes for the rebuttal by the proponent. Whoops, I'll skip by. We need to do roll call. Pardon me. Moving on along. Can't tell. It's tax season.

All right. Commissioner Bower here. Commissioner Creekmore here. Commissioner Edwards. Commissioner Goodman here. Commissioner Pal here. Commissioner Thornton Emanuel here. Vice Chair Hicks here and Vice Chairman or I'm sorry, Chairman Staylor here. Uh, Mr. Chairman, we have a quorum.

We have a quarum. Moving on, we have two public hearings today. Public hearings of 30 minutes, 10 minutes for the proponents, 15 minutes for the opponents, and five minutes for the rebuttal by the proponents. First public hearing is conditional use permit request CUP 2025-000020. Mr. Wine, will you please read the caption?

Yes, sir. Conditional use permit request CU 20225020 trailer works services submitted by Michael Mlane applicant and property owner in accordance with sections 31306 and 31406 of the unified development ordinance to grant a conditional use permit to establish an aggraus use on property located at 21101 Holland Corner Road zone map 52 parcel 13A. The affected area is further identified as being located in the Holy Neck voting burrow, zoned A, agricultural zoning district. The 2045 comprehensive plan designates this area as outside of the growth area, rural agricultural land use type. When you act on this request, you will be acting on a resolution to present a report in recommendation to city council relating to conditional use permit request CUP 202520. Staff planner Caitlyn Caitlyn Albet will present staff's report.

Great. Good afternoon. So, this is conditional use permit request 2025-020 trailer works services. Um, the subject property you can see is to the southwest outside the growth area. Um, zoomed in a little bit on the map and circled the property with yellow red circle just to kind of show you where it is. It's designated as rural agriculture in the comprehensive plan and is surrounded on all sides. It's all zoned agricultural as well. There's an aerial um I've shown the property within that pink box. Um you'll see that it is land block. Again, it's located off Holland Corner Road. Property itself is a little bit over an acre in size. It contains a single family house about 2700 square feet in size and a detached garage about 1500 square feet in size. You see the property is surrounded by farm fields and then undeveloped wooded land on both sides. There are some single family houses which I've shown kind of in the blue. Um located a pretty substantial distance away both fronting directly along Holland Corner Road and then to the west there as well. So I want to discuss the proposal of this particular request. Um this is to establish what we define as an aggra business. ities are agricultural focused businesses that really are designed to provide services to that use and to that community. So, in particular, this use is for horse utility and livestock trailer, the repair and maintenance of those specifically on the applicant's property where he lives. Um, he'll be conducting that particular business inside the detached garage which he's proposing to expand and I'll discuss that a little bit in the next slide. Um, again, the repair will be done entirely indoors and will be mostly with hand tools um and light equipment. Customers will only visit the site by appointment. This will be really to either drop off the trailer or to pick it up.

So, that is the survey provided by the applicant. I've shown um so you can see there's the house that's sewn on there, the detached garage to the rear. I want to point out a couple of items on this. Um I've highlighted the building edition in red. That's 32 by 32 and it's going to bring the entire addition up to about 2500 square ft in total size. Again, that's the space that's going to be used for the trailer repair and maintenance and business. There's not going to be any work done outdoors. The applicant might occasionally st store one or two trailers and that's denoted with the little X's on the gravel driveway. The site is served by private well and private septic. Uh with this particular proposal, there's not going to be any new bathrooms or plumbing fixtures in the detached garage. So there's not going to be impact on the system. The health departments reviewed the request and they don't have any issues with what's being proposed here. The site two does have developed access gravel driveway that again goes from the front of the site to the rear and again that's where customers would travel onto the site access the building. I overlaid a little clip of the applicant sketch plan kind of showing where their parcel is. Um want to go and point out a couple of things. So being that the parcel's landlocked it is accessed by an access ement which I've tried to yellow. Um the access easement runs from Holland Corner Road kind of straight up the flag and then to the applicant's property. Um prior to application, what the applicant did is he approached all the property owners who are adjacent have interest in that easement and executed an agreement. What the agreement basically says, and that's in your packet, is that the public can traverse the easement for the purpose of accessing the applicant's business. So that gives somebody the right, again, member of the public, to go onto the private easement and go back to that applicant's property to have his trailers repaired. Um, again, the use itself, it's going to be entirely indoors. It's also very well buffered from any adjacent residential. Um, I kind of showed with the green arrow, the nearest house is over a thousand feet

away. So even if there is any kind of noise generated from the use, it's very well buffered from adjacent residences. So kind of in conclusion, the scale and size of this use is very appropriate for this area. It's in a very appropriate location and it does serve the surrounding agricultural community. Again, there's reasonable limits to traffic. Um given that this is going to be customer client contact only, um the applicant has offered that in this narrative and we're also proposing a condition of approval that would require that. Again, that's limits the traffic traveling on that private easement. So, with all that in mind, we're recommending that you forward this particular application to city council with a recommendation of approval subject to the conditions as proposed in the ordinance. Thank you so much. I'll be here to answer any questions you have, staff. Thanks.

Thank you very much. We will now open the public hearing. Who would like to come forward to speak in favor of this conditional use permit request? Please state your name and address, please. Good afternoon. Um, my name is Michael Mlan and I, my myself and my wife Audrey are the owners of 211 Holland Corner Road. We've been there as of this coming Fourth of July 26 years. Um, so again, good afternoon chairman, members of the planning commission. Uh, my name is Michael Mlan. My wife Audrey and I are the owners and we are here regarding the conditional use permit CUP 2025 020 uh for trailer works a small aggra business focused on the maintenance and repair of horse livestock and utility type trailers. Trailer Works is intended to serve a practical rural need in an agricultural area like Holy Neck. Many residents farms and horse owners rely on trailers to move animals, equipment and supplies. My goal is to provide a local dependable service for those trailer owners in a way that fits the rural and agricultural character of the area. City staff specifically found that this use fits um and supports the agricultural equipment needs and is consistent with the rural agricultural designation in the 2045 comprehensive plan and is compatible with the surrounding agricultural land use pattern. Um, this will be a smallcale appointment appointment only operation with limited customer traffic. I want it to be well-maintained, low impact, and respectful of all the surrounding properties. Customer contact will occur by appointment only and maintain a limited number of trailers on site because we don't want to have a real cluttered look

or anything of that nature for when customers do come back and forth. Uh keeping within those guidelines will keep the traffic impacts to a minimum. Public works traffic engineering also waved the traffic study and expressed no concerns. As a major point again I want to emphasize is that the repair work will be conducted inside the building um not as an outdoor commercial yard. That is important to me because it helps reduce noise, dust, visual clutter and any effect on neighboring properties. Um, so again, as was pointed out in the picture, it's all crop land all the way around. I'm uh well acquainted with the owners of the properties around me, and I've talked to all the neighbors of the new houses that are all on the front of Holland Corner Road, and no one has presented any uh opposition to to this. Um, let's see here. The property is also naturally buffered. It's surrounded by crop land, wooded land, and and the staff noted the nearest residence other than my own is approximately 1,899 ft from the detached garage area. It's well off the road. The site is set well back from Holland Corner Road and the access arrangement has been reviewed with the staff concluding is sufficient for the limited patron patronage proposed. Overall, this is meant to be a respectful, low impact rural business that provides a useful service without changing the character of our area. I appreciate the staff's review and recommendation and I respectfully ask for your favorable recommendation to city council. Thank you for your time and any questions that you may have.

Thanks, Mr. Clay. We once we close the public hearing, we'll open it up for some questions. So, so uh we we'll we'll move on. Thank you, sir. Uh is there anyone else to speak in favor of this conditional use permit? Anyone else to speak in favor? Seeing none, is there anyone here who would like to speak in opposition to this request? Please come forward and give us your name and address, please, ma'am.

Hi, my name is Cararissa Hines, 2120 Holland Corner Road. I've been there 20 years. I don't necessarily have an opposition to it, but I do have a few concerns. I don't know what the definition we are putting on livestock trailer. My concern is tractor trailers down the road as is extremely narrow. The majority of the road is only 13 feet wide and as it is with an 8 foot pickup truck, it is very difficult to even pass a school bus on our road. So my concern would be the definition of a livestock trailer. Is that residential livestock trailer like cattle or are we talking pig, horse and fullscale cattle trailers that would require an 18-wheeler to come down the road. Uh the other concern I had was there has been historically accidents towards the Mineral Springs entrance to Holland Corner Road where tractor trailers have gone into the ditch because their GPS has routed them that direction coming from Wheville to the Suffach Dollar General. I will use that one as an example. Whereas their GPS has guided them that direction. That has since improved. I'm guessing that Google Maps has maybe updated that and so we have less accidents down that in where the tractor trailers are ending up in ditches, thus blocking the road. But I'm curious to know if there will be a plan put into place for trailer works to have um their GPS location updated so they come in a certain way. Now that would not affect if this is just residential trailers. would only affect if this is larger scale 18-wheelers, tractor trailers. So, it's not necessarily an opposition, just wanting a little bit more information um prior to an actual opposition to that.

Thank you, ma'am.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak in opposition? Anyone else who would like to speak in opposition? Seeing none, uh, proponents, you have five minutes for rebuttal. Uh, to address um, my distinguished neighbors concerns, um, there will be no tractor trailer size equipment coming back to this. This is all uh horse trailers uh livestock trailers which maybe the extent of maybe 20 feet in length is probably the extent. So it's it's all standard 8 foot wide trailer type equipment. So there wouldn't be anything um tractor trailer wise. They wouldn't be able to make the swing and turn into my lane um for for that size. And that's far beyond the scope of what what I would be wanting as a disabled vet. I wouldn't be able to handle that sort of sort of work. So, um this is to address your concern, ma'am. No ma'am, there will not.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any other uh comments or rebuttal? Seeing none, public hearing is closed. Commissioners questions, comments or motion is in order. Chair, I would like to make a motion for approval of conditional use permit request CUP205-020.

It's been moved and seconded. Are there any questions? Any comments, questions?

Um, I thought the uh lady that came up made a good and I was scrolling through the report as fast as I could to try to find any reference on size limitations and I'm sure there are some implied there. Um, I'm 100% for it. Anything that supports agriculture in SUFFK, almost anything, um, I'm definitely going to be a huge fan of it. just I thought that was a reasonable um question and is there anything in the language of the cup that says any limitations um on size? Okay,

so great question. Um, currently we do have a staff imposed condition or recommended condition that would limit the repair and maintenance to horse, livestock, and utility trailers only. Uh, that's condition two uh within staff's report. Um, we we define livestock um and we define trailers separately within our unified development ordinance. Um and that we would have uh the discretion to enforce those or the zoning administrator would um should there be repair of any commercial trailers um in excess of uh certain sizes that we believe do not fit those definitions.

I'm guess I'm like I'm seeing the concern like a trailer that hauls a bunch of pigs from Smithfield or Purdue trailer full of chickens that could potentially fall under livestock trailer. I understand that that is absolutely not the applicant's intention. I'm just trying to see the big picture.

Uh that's correct. Um it would it would put us in a pretty difficult um position should we try to enforce that condition and and they are in fact you know hauling livestock within them. Um, I would propose that you all, should you wish, uh, could modify that condition, um, and put perhaps a size limitation on it, um, limiting it to, uh, certain sizes.

Yeah. Yeah. Hi. Um just want to note too in the UDO in the definition section we also do define semi-trailers which kind of that's that category of like those where the tractor trailer hauls in the big like you know the big cat you know livestock um and that wouldn't really fall into what we're classifying as like utility trailers. So I want to note that there's the definition section of the UD I'll also give the zoning administrator some discretion in being able to differentiate in the context of that condition. Okay. Any other questions, comments? We have a motion made and seconded. Uh please um call for the vote.

Commissioners, please vote. Mr. Chairman, the motion is approved by vote of 8 to zero. Uh, this commit conditional use permit request was approved and will go before city council on April the 15, 2026 with our recommendation for approval. Thank you. Um, next item on our agenda is ordinance text amended amendment OTAA 2026-00003. Mr. Wine, will you please read the caption?

Yes, sir. OTAA 2026003 initiated by the city of Suffach for amendments to section 31416.2 of the unified development ordinance of the city of Suffach. The purpose of this text amendment is to update and refine the code of the city of Suffach chapter 31 unified development ordinance. When you act on this request, you'll be acting on a resolution to present a report and recommendation to city council relating to ordinance text amendment OTAA 20 26003. Our assistant director of planning, Meg Pittinger, will walk you through this ordinance text amendment.

Thank you, Kevin. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Madam Vice Chairman and members of planning commission, as Kevin indicated, I'm going to walk you through uh some amendments to our flood regulations and why we're doing them and adopting new flood maps for the city. So, FEMA has produced new flood insurance rate maps, otherwise known as firms for Suffach. Uh the city's flood maps were updated last in on August 3rd, 2015. So, it's been almost 11 years. Um, we received our letter of final determination um, on January 7th and this was delayed. We originally were supposed to get it back in October, but since the federal government had a shutdown, uh, it was delayed. And so the LFD sets the effective date of the new firms for July 7th, 2026. Um, as a um, member of the NFIP, we must ensure that our flood regulations u meet the NFIP requirements, which um, are the federal rules. Um, and that includes amending our ordinance to adopt the new maps. So, FEMA is responsible for creating the flood maps for the entire country. They do this with their partners um engineering firms and things like that to uh do digital modeling and create the flood maps. They use a process that they call risk map um for that which is risk mapping assessment and planning um to make these maps. They also create what they call non-regulated pro products which are flood risk report some flood risk mapping um that they will create and produce after the uh flood maps become effective that give some additional flood risk information for for the city. Uh so the schedule that we're on and I'll review this again at the end um is we submit our draft ordinance to DCR DCR department of conservation and recreation at the state level. They're

the agency that that regulates floods and dams um for the state and we did that back in November. Um they returned it to us with relatively minor changes. Um and so here we have planning commission today. We tenatively will be at city council next month. Um and then we submit our um adopted ordinance to DC back to DCR no later than 30 days or no less no later than 30 days prior to the effective date which is June 5th. So, we're trying to get ahead of the process just in case there's any bumps so that we don't get in a situation where we haven't adopted the maps by the date that FEMA has set. Then DCR will review it and submit it to FEMA. They'll update their records and then the new firms and the updated ordinance will become effective on July 7th, 2026. So, just some little background about floods. Floods can they're natural for the most part. Um, and they can happen almost anywhere. Um, sometimes you aren't even near a body of water. I mean, it floods out on West Washington Street occasionally when it rains really hard. Um, but the national standard that FEMA has created is what they call the 1% annual chance flood. Sometimes you hear that called 100red-year flood. We try not to use that in the flood world because people think that means it's only going to flood once every 100 years and you'll see that that is actually not the case. But it's the 1% annual chance flood that is those are the areas that fall within that that are the regulated flood zones. Uh the 0 2% which sometimes you'll hear that called the 500year flood zone is the area just outside of that generally. Um and again these are areas that that could flood but they're not these are not regulated. We only regulate the 1% annual chance flood areas. um these high-risisk areas, these 1% annual chance floods, there is a 26% chance um of flooding during a 30-year mortgage. So during that 30-year span, the way the math works is that there's

actually a 26% chance that that that property will flood during that period. Um river and coastal flooding, um those are the basis for the flood zones. They do not include rain, heavy, you know, downpours, flash flooding, things like that. Those are not incorporated into the flood maps. Um, so these so the flood maps and I'm going to show you some examples of some maps are based on coastal title inundation and also riverine areas. Other areas can flood. As I said, even if they're outside of map flood zones, we always tell people that the water doesn't know where the line are line is. It's just a line on a map. So anywhere that it can rain, it can flood. So FEMA does use letter codes to identify the different flood areas by risk. the VE zones, those are the coastal areas. These in in Suffach are primarily along the Nanzammen um where there's high velocity waves higher than three feet. That's how FEMA defines it. If you are the waves in the in the engineering modeling are projected to be above three feet, then that's going to be in a VE zone. Um just inside of that in some areas is what we call the coastal Azone. And there's a line there that is the limit of moderate wave action. That's the area between a foot and a half and three feet of wave action. Uh and then inside of that that you have your Azones. Some are numbered along the Nansmen. Some of those coastal areas you have elevations associated with it. Um that's where the base flood elevations are set. Um and then you have unnumbered Azones that are in a lot of other areas where the base flood elevation has not been set by the modeling. Areas outside of that are designated with an X. When I first started doing flood stuff, I thought X was weird because it seems like a placeholder, but that is what they designate, those areas that are the minimal and moderate wave or moderate flood zones. Um, and just for the kind of technical piece of it, the base flood elevations are measured relative to mean sea level, which in in the standards of

how they measure things is what they call the North American vertical datim of of 1988. So that's how they're I tell people just think about relative to sea level when we're talking about if you see a base elevation of eight or 10 it's relative to sea level. So there are also some areas that are non-coastal areas that are floodways. These are along the Blackwater and also along Shingle Creek um where you think of a flowing river as opposed to a tidal river like the Nanzamin. The Blackwater and the Shingle Creek has some floodway areas. floodway areas have a little bit different restrictions where you can't build within that designated floodway at all and you have to protect against the entire floodway area having any kind of flood elevation greater than a foot. Um so there's additional modeling that typically somebody would have to do if they want to build within a floodway. The way these look as in a cross-section so the coastal areas are on the left. You see the water is all the way to the left. You have the sea level there. You see the the red line indicates where the base flood elevation is. And as you sequence in, you have the AE behind it. You've got the limwa, the limit of moderate wave action. Then you get all the way to the right and you get areas that are outside of the flood areas. In a riverine situation, it's a little bit different because you define that floodway as the channel. So that's the middle of the river zone. And then you protect the areas the fl what we call the flood fringe on the edges. Don't build in those areas because they can ele they can raise the the flood elevation of that area within the floodway. So kind of from a cross-section, this is what these look like. In addition to the maps, FEMA produces what they call a flood insurance study. Um because all of the flood maps ultimately it's based on risk, but it's also ba it's also leads to how much flood insurance is going to be associated with that. Um the FIS has all

of the technical data. If you look in there, there's a bunch of charts and things like that that where FEMA has done the mapping to indicate what the flood levels are going to be in different points. Um so that study goes along with the flood maps. Um and again has all the all the technical data that the engineers need to look at when they're when they're building something in a in a flood zone. So what the flood maps look like is this. There's a big index and it's all gritted uh throughout the entire city. When you read your staff reports for cups or resonings, you'll see this sta this paragraph that I have kind of down here. This property falls within whatever flood zone shown on this numbered panel. And that's what this kind of looks like. That's where those numbers actually come from is this grid of panel index that goes along that that shows you where those areas are. FEMA still produces printed maps. I'm not really sure why in this digital age, but these are what the panels look like. Uh it's a it's a big panel. It's got technical data, but it shows you where um this area is within the locality. And then you drill down even further and you can see what the flood elevations are. All of this data is available on FEMA's website at the M what they call the map service center, the MSSE. So it's mse.fma.govportalomehome. Um, and when you zoom in, you can see this is what the flood zone looks like in a coastal area. You've got some Bzones, you VE zones, you've got Azones, uh, and then you've got X. So, when you zoom in a little bit, this is what it looks like. So, that limit of moderate wave action that I talked about, that is that black line with the triangles, the triangles always point to where the flooding source is coming from. So that's kind of your key when you're looking at that is the triangles point towards where the flooding is coming from. And you see the different flood elevations there. You've got VE1, you

got VE10, um and then you've got that kind of orangey yellow color um area that is the Xshaded. That's that 500year area. And then everything outside of that that has no shading is what they call the X unshaded area. So those are the unshaded areas. that coastal transct that's one of the the lines that they put on the map that shows where they did modeling. So if you went back to that flood insurance study and look for transect number 25 that's where that would be. So that just shows you where they modeled. They modeled you know about a hundred different locations so they can see how far the water is going to propagate inland. In riverine areas it looks a little bit different. Um these are the areas that have the floodways. Um, and it's that red and blue striped area that runs down the middle of the channel. These base flood elevations are done differently. You've got those highlighted areas there. Um, and the base flood elevations are actually listed right there on there. So, in the coastal areas, it's either, you know, it's 8, 10, 11, that kind of thing. It's it's round numbers. In the riverine areas, it's going to say 17.5, 17.7, 17.8, whatever it says. That's the base flood elevation in those areas there. So those are the cross-sections as you looked across that river profile. That's how the base flood elevations are are done in these riverine areas. And again, this is Shingle Creek and then also along the Blackwater. Um so the changes to the maps are relatively minor for SuffK. Um, these areas that are in yellow are indicated areas that are going to now be in mapped areas. For the most part, they are these small slivers of land. They actually picked up the lake there in Hill Point. Um, these are so so as you go through these areas with the yellow again, these are going to get mapped into to be now

in the regulated flood zones. Relatively small kind of strips of land. There are some areas that are actually getting mapped out. um those purple magenta areas are actually no longer going to be in the flood zone um in the maps. And so this is what it kind of looks like on the map changes. Again, relatively small, but you know, if it's your property, then it's a big deal to you. So I don't want to minimize that too much, but relatively small as opposed to big swaths of land getting getting mapped in. So, in addition to the maps, um we are proposing some changes to the flood regulations. Um the city's flood regulations are in section 31 uh-416.2 of the UDO. Um in order to meet the NFIP standards, we do have to make sure that we we we meet the minimum standards, but proposing higher regulations helps protect people and property from flood damages. Um, so we are proposing a few uh higher standards than what the minimums are. Um, the first one I'm going to talk about is freeboard. So freeboard is that margin of safety. The base flood elevation is the minimum level that you have to regulate to. Um, by adding a little bit of extra elevation, you protect those properties from unknown things that can happen. you know, as as more structures get built, you get, you know, more less area for the water to go. Um, you can get high tides, you can get full moons, you can get rain that is not incorporated into the map. So, by having freeboard, um, it gives you that little bit of extra margin of safety to protect properties from flood damage. It's important to know that your homeowners insurance will not pay for flood damage. If the water if the flood water the water comes from the ground, it's not getting paid for by your homeowner's insurance. You have to have flood insurance to pay for those damages. If if it's rain, if the roof gets ripped off and you get rain, it'll pay for that. But if it comes from the

ground, from any flooding source, even if it's like a pipe, the your fl the your your homeowners insurance will not pay for that flood, that water damage. So, you have to have flood insurance if you going to get that. Even government even during like a hurricane or something like that, you're not going to get government funding for that. Um, so you have to have flood insurance if you want to get protected against flood damage. So what we're looking at is in the A zones and the AE zones adding 12 in um above the base flood elevation that the floor would need to be elevated. And this does align with the building code. The building code already requires 12 inches. So even if we didn't have it in the flood ordinance, they're going to be doing it because of the building code anyway. So it gets, you know, gets you to that that higher standard with something that that you've got to that they're doing anyway. So 12 inches is a kind of a minimal standard um that we're seeing across the area that that is a is a good standard to have in place. um in the coastal A which is that seawward of the limois and in the V and V and VE zones um we're proposing 18 in as opposed to that 12 in um in areas that are subject to waves because waves again can be can be affected by all kinds of conditions. It's advisable to have additional freeboard to to protect that structure from damage from those waves. what this kind of looks like on a structure. So, me go back. So, for things that are in the Azone, where we measure is is this top of the higher of top of the lowest floor. That's where you measure for flood elevation in your non-wave zones, right? So, that's where we're measuring in your wave zones. Where we're measuring is the bottom of the lowest horizontal structure member, which is a lot of words, but basically is that joist. If you think about a house down the Outer Banks or at Sandbridge, it's got those

joists that are down there. You want the water to be below that. You do not want the water to come up and hit those joists because that's part of the structure and that can take the whole structure and end up in the ocean or end up in the river. So for VE, for coastal areas, areas that are subject to waves, actually the you measure to the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural member to get the waves to go underneath and have it be open so that that force doesn't impact the structure of the of of the house or of the building. So that's that's what that means and what that looks like. And again, that additional freeboard is recommended in areas that are subject to wave action. So this is a big section about accessory structures and we're making it we have less regulated is that the right way to say it maybe in some regards but more in others. So FEMA region three which is the region that we're in about 10 years ago really came through on accessory structures and things in the flood zone. It's like hey you guys need to be you're you're permitting too many things in the flood zones. So they set a minimum of 600 square f feet as the maximum size. So right now our ordinance actually says 200 square feet um is the maximum, but what we're proposing is for that to be 600 square feet which aligns with the FEMA region 3 guidelines unless we prohibit them entirely. Um which is an option but we're not proposing that. Um but accessory structures are intended to be not for human habitation. So if it is for human habitation then it has to meet the residential construction standards. But these are sheds, garages, workshops, she sheds, he sheds those kind of things. So it has to meet these standards if it's in the flood zone. No more than 600 square feet. Be only for storage and vehicles. Um flood resistant materials which is standard in a flood

zone. Um be be um placed so that it is minimum resistance. if you can determine that if like if there's waves or that kind of thing coming in and al and obviously be anchored so that it doesn't go anywhere. Um and then you know electrical service has to be elevated. That's a standard thing in a flood zone. Um and has to have flood openings. I think it I think some sheds and garages in flood zones in the past they you know people haven't been required to have flood vents. What flood vents do is let the water similar to elevating it above that wave zone lets the water go in and out so that it doesn't create that hydraulic pressure against the wall and make the wall fail. So by having flood vents in the flood walls or in the walls then you allow that to have potential to have less damage. Um and then lastly having a non-conversion agreement saying that it cannot be converted to um human habitation in the future. so that it remains an accessory structure that is just for storage and that that sort of thing. Uh we're doing a few definition updates. Again, we're adding that definition of or or amending that definition of accessory structure. Um adding a little bit to the definition of development. This comes from the state model ordinance to to talk about temporary structures, making sure that they comply with the flood regulations uh and any storage of materials. Uh and then we added this one sentence in here um in the floodway definition to say at any point within the community. This is the FEMA requirement. It also aligns with the the uh language that establishes the floodway district. Uh and just a note that these definitions are contained within this section rather than in appendix A because they apply specifically to the flood regulations. So recap on the next steps. Uh again, we've already submitted our our ordinance to DCR. They've taken a look at it. We're here today at planning commission. We hope to go to city

council next month. Uh after that, we'll submit it to FE to DCR. We'll then submit to FEMA. And then our maps and the ordinance will be effective on July 7th, 2026. And with that, I will stand by for any questions at the conclusion of the public hearing.

Thank you, Meg. We'll now open the public hearing. Who would like to come forward to speak in favor of the ordinance text amendment? Anyone to come forward to speak in favor? I see none. Is there anyone here that would like to come forward and speak in opposition to the ordinance text amendment? Anyone in opposition? I see no opposition. Public hearing is closed. Uh, commissioners, questions, comments, or a motion? Commissioners?

I'd just like to have a comment. Appreciate Meg for for giving us a review of this. Um, serving on the ordinance committee. Uh, we we heard this and and went back and it's it's a good recap of of what that means. uh to us in terms of being able to approve or not approve uh certain uh structures, you know, within these uh flood regulations. The only comment I have about it is that if anybody's been in the insurance business or you have to or you have to borrow money uh for a mortgage uh for one of these houses uh in a flood zone, uh it creates a big problem because um banks and mortgage companies require u a flood zone map or flood zone uh if it's in a flood zone. you have to have a a flood insurance, you also have to have homeowners insurance. Uh so it could affect, you know, some people uh some of our prospective uh residents uh that want to build a house that's in a flood zone. And so it becomes an economic situation uh for those individuals. But um that all being said um as a comment, I think that uh that we need to uh I would like to to uh submit an approval for uh OTAA 2026-003.

Yes, it's been moved and seconded. Any other questions or comments? Commissioners.

Yes, Chair. I have a question. Um maybe uh Kevin can answer this one. I guess in in the UDO I just noticed that the public assistant program is lined out. So that's is that's like a FEMA thing. Yes. So, we are the state model ordinance is taking all of that um language about hazard mitigation programs and things like that that are not part of the flood regulations. They took all those definitions out of the state model ordinance. And I will make a clarification. Public assistance is what the government gets from FEMA after an emergency. It's not what the general public gets. That's what's called individual assistance. Um, but all of those hazard mitigation programs, which are all those things that are lined out, the state's taking that out of the model ordinance because again, it's not really we're not regulating that within our flood regulations. That's a federal program that provides assistance after a declared state of emergency that when FEMA comes down and you know, the city's got damages or whatever that that public assistance, it is confusing. Public assistance is actually what the government agencies get to repair roads or bridges or coverts or whatever. Um but again is not part of the flood regulation. So that's why we're proposing to take it out.

Okay. Oh, one more question. Um sea level. So in the city of Suff I guess we have no concerns about sea level, right? Sea level rise or sea level? I mean sea level is sea level.

Sea level rising, sea level lowering or we sinking or we what we doing? So, so in general, u SuffK is affected less by sea level rise than other Hampton Roads communities primarily because Suffach has a lot more elevation than other cities have. You go to Norfick or Hampton or Portsouth, the general elevation, ground elevation is not very high, right? I think the highest point in Portsouth is like 16 feet and probably some of the lowest points most of Suffach is well above that especially you get past the scarp and and there's a lot more elevation and you know the way the flood maps work is that the base you know it's it's wherever the water level is you know and and if the base flood elevation is 8 feet and your property elevation is four feet you're in the flood zone right you're at nine feet you're out of the flood zone um in Suffach it's less of a concern because of the the general elevation of the ground of the land that we have. Certainly, it is rising the sea level. Um, you know, the same as it is across the river in Portsouth and in Chesapeake. Um, but it's less of an issue because we have more ground elevation. You know, when you when you're right at when you're living at sea level and you're at elevation four, you know, in some places that's gonna you're you know, it's going to be more of a thing. Um, and until 20 maybe after the 2015 maps, FEMA was not by law allowed to even address sea level in the new mapping in the at all. They were prohibited. They're now allowed to consider that when they're doing the modeling. Um, so Noah has got figures that they look at. Um, there's some from the core that are looked at and so they're actually able to incorporate that into the maps now. But thankfully for Suffach, it's less of an issue because we have more ground elevation.

All right. Um c can you tell me um which flood level zone the Kimbley bridge is in? So the so that is the base and elevation there. And I know I where the bridge is I'm going to say off the top of my head I don't know where that is but where the go-kart place is it's 10. And so that's not that far away. So I imagine it's 10. Um, the ground elevation where the go-kart place is is four. Thank you. Commissioners, any other questions? I have a question for me real quick.

Not to oversimplify the incredible presentation you did, but I was on the committee meeting where you gave us the really in-depth interview. I just want to make sure folks are clear if there's anybody watching, um, that SUFFK's not really stroking any big new regulations. This is more of an enforcement of the FEMA maps which are fed the is from the federal level.

Yeah. FEMA creates the maps and the city is required to adopt them if they want to stay in the national flood insurance program. If we don't adopt the maps and don't adopt the regulations, that's cool. Then nobody can get any flood insurance. So we don't want to do that, I'm assuming, right? We want to stay within the NFIP, which you have to be a a good st the community has to be a a member in good standing of the NFIP in order for anybody in the community to get flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. Um, and we do that by adopting the maps that FEMA ad creates and making sure that our ordinance is in line with the minimum requirements of the NFIP. Thank you so much. Y

commissioners Seeing no other questions, uh, we have a motion in a second. Please call for the vote. Commissioners, please vote. Mr. Chairman, the motion passes by a vote of 7 to one. This ordinance text amendment was approved and will go before city council on April the 15, 2026 with our recommendation for approval. Um, that completes all of our public meetings. Uh, before we go on to the agenda, we'll move up on the agenda. Um, I neglected to have the approval of the minutes. The minutes were uh included in the packet that you received. Uh, are there any additions or corrections? Seeing none, they'll be approved as presented. Uh, old business. Uh, Kevin. See, we do not have any old business. Um, sorry. Going back to the agenda. Bear with me. Uh, yeah. No old business.

Okay. U moving on. Any new business?

Um, yep. I can provide you with the city council report from their February 18th meeting. Uh, they had five items go before them. Um the first being the Riverbend VOTE uh reszoning that has been deferred to their meeting tomorrow evening. Just to provide you all with an update, we have gotten another request from the applicant as it relates to that application requesting an additional deferral for another month. The second item that they heard was a resoning for Holland Road at Westport. Uh this was to amend existing profers on that resoning that would allow ultimately for a truck stop use. Um and that was approved. Um additionally, there were two CUPs for racetracks um that racetrack truck stop locations um one at Port 460 and one at Westport. Both of those were approved with the conditions. And lastly, the Zealous Blue commercial dog kennel was back on city council's agenda and that was denied by council.

Thank you, Kevin. Um status report on any preliminary plat approved. Uh we did not have any this past month.

Um an additional item here is just for your attention and maybe a motion. Um our May meeting is scheduled for normally for the 19th, Tuesday the 19th. That is the date for the state of the city which we generally appear appear. Um so I think last last time we had this conflict we moved it up to the Thursday rather than the Tuesday. That would make the uh planning commission meeting for May May the 21st. Um, and we probably need a motion to that effect. Any discussion on that? All right, we have a motion to move our May meeting to uh Thursday, uh, May the 21st, 2 o'clock. Um, is there a second?

It's been moved and seconded. Any questions? Mr. W, please call for the vote. All right, commissioners, please vote. All right, Vice Chair Hicks, looks like we're waiting for you. All right, there we go. Mr. Chairman, the motion is approved by vote of 8 to zero. Okay. So, we'll uh just have a couple of days to to uh digest the information. Correct. A little longer for that meeting. Um there will be Kevin I did you have a chance from time we met to look up that meeting that the city's going to be having um on uh dealing with the uh interchanges. Thought y'all might like to maybe know about that, maybe want to attend. Yes, sir. So, on March 31st from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., the city will be holding a meeting to discuss uh potential interchange solutions um along the bypass and at uh Pitch Kettle and Route 460. um and they'll be presenting those solution potential solutions um in an kind of an openhouse format. Um for additional information, you all can visit our uh website um and go to public works and uh you'll see the route 58 study um for some digestion. But um that meeting once again will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on March 31st at Elephants Fork Elementary School.

Thank you, Kevin. Um uh additionally, I had had spoke to the head of the uh the library and um uh we may Kevin may be getting back with you. We're going to look into seeing if we can have a visitation prior to the opening of the library and uh we'll see if we can work some details out in some times whatever. So, we'll be getting back with you hopefully in the next week or so on that. Um other than that, um commissioner's comments, we'll start. Commissioner Goodman, no comment. Moving on along.

Johnny, a comment. I'll go all the way to the end. Selene,

uh, what what what month is this? Where we in? March. March. Uh, it's been an interesting year so far. Um, I just, you know, the citizens, you know, hey, keep making noise. Uh, I mean it's it's it's making an impact and uh, you know, we just try to make a difference up up here when we, you know, take a vote. So on that, I'm looking forward to August. I'm just going to skip the rest of the months. Commissioner V.

Uh, happy St. Patrick's Day to everybody and happy 13th birthday to my twin boys, Charlie and Ashton. M Mr. Creek Moore. Uh yes, sir. I would just like to thank the staff for putting in the time that it takes to get us prepared to be able to make uh decisions for the citizens of Suffach. So again, thank you very much, Commissioner Hicks. kind of seriously crazy folks and uh I don't know nothing to do but pray. So I want y'all to pray for our country in this world cuz we in trouble.

Thank you. There being no further business, we will stand a journ.