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Communities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) can choose to participate in
this companion program. It rewards a community for taking actions over and above minimum NFIP requirements
with the goal of further reducing flood damages. The more actions a community takes, the lower the premiums
for flood insurance will be within that community.
A tax can be used as a mitigation action in several ways: 1) tax funds may be used to finance maintenance
of drainage systems or to construct reservoirs; 2) tax assessments may discourage builders from
constructing in a given area; or 3) taxes may be used to support a regulatory system.
Conservation easements may be used to protect environmentally significant portions of parcels from
development. They do not restrict all use of the land; rather, they direct development to areas of land
that are not environmentally significant.
Communities may consider obtaining easements for planned and regulated public use of privately owned
land for temporary water retention and drainage.
A post-disaster recovery ordinance regulates repair activity, generally depending on property location.
It prepares a community to respond to a disaster event in an orderly fashion by requiring citizens to:
- obtain permits for repairs
- refrain from making repairs
- make repairs using standard methods
Compensating an owner for partial rights, such as easement or development rights, can prevent a property
from being developed contrary to a community’s plan to maintain open space. This may apply to undeveloped
land generally or to farmland in particular.
In return for keeping floodplain areas in open space, a community may agree to allow a developer to
increase densities on another parcel that is not at risk. This allows a developer to recoup potential
losses from non-use of a floodplain site with gains from development of a non-floodplain site.
By taking the initiative locally to more accurately map problem areas with information not already on
FEMA maps, a community can warn residents about potential risks that may not have been anticipated.
Upgrading maps provides a truer measure of risks to a community. All maps used for regulatory purposes
must be approved by the Wisconsin DNR.
With special soils and hydrology, wetlands serve as natural collection basins for floodwaters. Acting like
sponges, wetlands collect water, filter it, and release it slowly into rivers and streams. Protecting and
preserving wetlands can go a long way toward preventing flooding in other areas.
Keep in mind that choosing to take no action is a legitimate mitigation alternative that can be used to
evaluate the effectiveness of other alternatives by comparing and contrasting them. In some cases, for
example where the costs outweigh the benefits regardless of the mitigation option, no action might be the
appropriate alternative.
Revised: October 18, 2007
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