August 6, 2025 City Council Meeting

Announcements

• The City Council held a study session on 📅 Tuesday, August 5th, 2025.

Key Discussions & Information Presented

• FEMA Community Rating System (CRS) Overview: Public Works staff presented on Norman's participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the CRS.
  • The CRS is a voluntary program within NFIP that incentivizes communities to exceed minimum flood plain management requirements, leading to reduced flood insurance premiums for citizens.
  • Norman is currently a Class 6 community, which provides significant flood insurance premium discounts.
  • Discounts: Property owners in a Special Flood Hazard Area (flood plain) receive a 20% discount on NFIP flood insurance premiums, while those outside the flood plain receive a 10% discount.
  • The program's goals include reducing flood damage, strengthening insurance aspects of NFIP, and fostering comprehensive flood plain management.
• Flood Plain Management in Norman:
  • Norman's flood plain ordinances are part of the zoning code and exceed FEMA's minimum requirements, notably requiring a two-foot elevation above the base flood elevation (compared to FEMA's one-foot standard).
  • The city maintains a strict "no build" policy in the floodway, allowing reconstruction of existing structures only under specific conditions (e.g., maintaining the original footprint).
  • Compensatory Storage: Any fill brought into the flood plain for development requires an equal amount of material to be removed elsewhere to ensure no net change in water storage capacity.
  • Norman utilizes a Flood Plain Permit Committee, comprising staff and citizen members, for permit determinations, a process more rigorous than many other communities.
• Flood Insurance Coverage Trends:
  • Data from 2020 to 2025 indicates a nearly 50% reduction in NFIP flood insurance policies in Norman, dropping from 489 to 251.
  • The number of single-family policies decreased from 426 to 224.
  • The average coverage per policy increased from approximately $280,000 to $316,000.
  • Possible reasons for the decline include economic factors, completion of mortgages (removing lender requirements for insurance), or a shift to private flood insurance carriers.
  • Only 7% of structures in identified flood hazard areas currently have NFIP flood insurance.
  • Norman has 17 repetitive loss properties (properties with multiple claims), with 167 paid claims across these properties.
• Efforts to Increase Awareness: The city actively promotes flood insurance through direct mailings, utility bill inserts, community events, social media, and its website.
• Future Class Rating: Norman is currently undergoing a CRS cycle verification visit. While the city expects to remain a Class 6, achieving a Class 5 (which would offer a 30% discount) would require additional points.
  • A previously sought grant for a flood warning system would have significantly contributed to a higher rating. Council expressed interest in exploring funding for such a system from the capital budget.
  • A flood warning system would automate monitoring of stream gauges, providing quicker alerts to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and enabling more proactive responses to flooding.
  • Council also discussed the importance of hazard disclosure during property sales, especially for properties in flood-prone areas.

Agenda Summary Table