WESTPORT — A public hearing on a “clarification” of local floodplain regulations is planned this week.

The hearing will take place online at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30. To access the Zoom link for the hearing, click here. The meeting also can viewed via the town website’s livestream here.

The hearing, according to a release from Deputy Planning and Zoning Director Michelle Perillie, will focus on a text amendment that would modify local floodplain regulations to be consistent with the Office of the State Building Inspector and the 2015 International Residential Code.

These rules require non-commercial and mixed-use buildings, which are new or substantially improved, to be floodproofed to the Base Flood Elevation, plus one foot.  

The text of the amendment is here. For an explanation of the amendment prepared by the Planning and Zoning Department’s staff, click here.

The proposed change “will help protect coastal property owners by ensuring new and substantially improved non-residential and mixed use buildings be being constructed as safely as possible,” according to the P&Z staff statement.

“The less potential for damage means lower premiums for Westport residents. Flood insurance premiums are lower for buildings floodproofed higher than the BFE,” the statement says. 

“A building flood protected to an elevation higher than the minimum level required by the NFIP [National Flood Insurance Program] is better protected from increases in flood heights due to development and climate change.  

“This amendment will better prepare Westport for a more resilient future,” the statement adds.

“The proposed amendment does not represent a new change, but is intended to clarify what was already adopted in 2019 when the P&Z Commission adopted Text Amendment #759 that required one additional foot of height when it was realized that one section of the regulations required further amending so all of the zoning regulations are consistent with the related building code requirements.”Perillie said.

Comments about the proposal may be sent before the meeting to PandZ@westportct.gov.