Revised flood map good news for waterfront development
After months of collaboration with Portland officials, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to a new flood map of Portland Harbor that will allow for future development of the area.
FEMA last August proposed rezoning Portland Harbor as a high-risk flood zone, susceptible to structural damage due to severe weather and floods, a move that would have raised insurance rates and greatly restricted development on the city's public and private piers by prohibiting everything "but lobster and fishing shacks," Portland City Planner Penny St. Louis Littell told Mainebiz last year. City officials opposed the change, and worked with FEMA to analyze data and develop a new flood map. On Friday, Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Chellie Pingree both announced FEMA had agreed to revise its flood map, shrinking the portion of the waterfront considered high risk.
FEMA's assessment of Portland Harbor's flood map was part of the agency's initiative to update maps in populated areas around the country to better regulate development and insurance rates in flood plains.
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