Bills · 2021-2022 Regular Session
Relating to: regulation of structures and accessory structures in floodplains.
Floodplain management Natural resources department of — Environmental protection
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill prohibits the Department of Natural Resources from restricting
certain structures and accessory structures in a floodplain.
Current law requires local units of government to enact floodplain zoning
ordinances and generally prohibits any person from placing or maintaining any
structure, building, fill, or development within any floodplain in violation of a
floodplain zoning ordinance. Floodplain zoning ordinances are subject to statutory
requirements and the requirements of rules promulgated by DNR.
The bill provides that DNR may not promulgate a rule or impose a restriction
that 1) results in an ordinance containing provisions for structures that are more
restrictive than those imposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or 2)
allows DNR to deny an exception for structures or accessory structures for which
FEMA has granted an exception. Under DNR rules, “structure” means “any
man-made object with form, shape, and utility, either permanently or temporarily
attached to or placed upon the ground, river bed, stream bed, or lakebed” and
“accessory structure” means “any facility, structure, building, or use which is
accessory or incidental to the principal use of a property, structure, or building.”