Owensboro officials are moving forward with zoning ordinance amendments to preserve flood insurance discounts and refine regulations on manufactured housing and solar farms.
During Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, Owensboro Metropolitan Planning and Zoning Executive Director Brian Howard outlined proposed changes to the city’s floodplain regulations. According to Howard, these amendments are part of the City’s and County’s participation in the Community Rating System and are designed to maintain or potentially increase flood insurance discounts for residents.
“One of the changes removes a statement in the zoning ordinance that says manufactured homes must be elevated one foot above the base flood elevation or 36 inches above ground level,” Howard said.
This removal means manufactured homes must now adhere strictly to the base flood elevation (BFE) standard instead of the set amount.
“During a recent audit, FEMA told us that if we keep that 36-inch requirement, the best the City can do is earn a 5% discount on flood insurance premiums,” Howard said. “Right now, we’re at 15%, so we felt that removing that language was necessary.”
Howard also addressed changes regarding substantial improvements to homes in flood-prone areas. Under the existing ordinance, if a homeowner invests more than 50% of a home’s value in improvements over a five-year period, the house must be brought into compliance with current floodplain elevation standards. The proposed change lowers that threshold to 49%.
“It should have a negligible impact on the type of home improvements people can make, but it will help the community maintain or potentially increase the discount residents receive on their flood insurance,” Howard said.
After the meeting, Howard further explained the rationale behind the amendments, emphasizing that they serve as a safeguard against excessive flood insurance payouts.
“If someone has a $300,000 house and does $300,000 worth of improvements, then experiences a catastrophe, flood insurance would be paying out significantly more,” he said. “This is a mechanism in modern floodplain ordinances to prevent that from happening.”
Also during the meeting, City Commissioners approved amendments to regulations on solar farms, including increasing setback requirements and strengthening decommissioning regulations.
City Manager Nate Pagan said the changes would have minimal impact on the City. The City of Whitesville is also expected to approve the amendments soon.
Daviess County Fiscal Court will hold a second reading on the amendments on Thursday. While they have indicated they will approve the changes, Fiscal Court has enacted a one-year moratorium on new solar farm applications to allow for further review.
“They passed a moratorium for one year,” Howard said. “So this text amendment will go through, but we won’t be able to take any applications for a new solar farm during that time.”
