Fairbanks adopts flood maps that take about 2,900 buildings out of the high-risk zone

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly voted 8-0 on Oct. 22 to adopt new federal flood maps that take about 2,881 structures out of the high-risk flood zone and put about 538 in. The borough says the change could save residents more than $15 million on flood insurance.

For owners leaving the zone, flood insurance "would become optional and significantly cheaper," Community Planning Director Kellen Spillman wrote in a memo. Federally backed mortgages require it inside the zone. The maps take effect Jan. 8, and Spillman said owners should then ask their bank or insurer to re-evaluate their coverage. "Most banks are not going to automatically do this," he said.

Salcha gains the most, Spillman's presentation showed, with well over half of the Eielson Farm Road area coming out of the zone. Most of Moose Creek ends up inside it.

Assembly member Tammie Wilson asked whether Moose Creek owners with mortgages had been told about the added cost. Spillman said he'd had a couple of conversations, mostly positive, and about half the owners he spoke with had no mortgage. "But anytime you do some of this, sadly enough, there are winners and there are losers," Wilson said. Presiding Officer Scott Crass said the maps tell owners about risk rather than create it: "This is not that we've suddenly placed them in a flood zone."

The borough has worked with FEMA on the new maps since 2014, when it adopted the current ones. Many of the old high-risk areas "appeared to be overstated," Spillman wrote.

The ordinance also loosened the borough's floodplain building rules, and those changes are already in effect, including in the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole. Crawlspaces up to 4 feet high are now allowed in the flood zone, with flood openings and drainage. Garages, sheds and other outbuildings up to one story and 800 square feet can be built below flood level if they're made of flood-resistant materials and built to let water in and out. FEMA asked for the changes, and Spillman said the borough set them at the minimum required to stay in the National Flood Insurance Program.

About one in five of the borough's 54,003 properties sits in a high-risk flood zone, staff slides show. More than 20,000 would if the levee the borough maintains lost its certification.