The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
recently released preliminary drafts of new Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for Dane County. These
maps not only serve to identify properties eligible for FEMA's Flood Insurance program, but also serve
as the basis for county and municipal floodplain zoning ordinances.
From February 9, 2007 until May 9, 2007, Dane County and city and village governments will receive
public comment on the preliminary FIRM maps and forward those comments to the DNR and FEMA. After
reviewing comments received during this period, FEMA will reissue final FIRM maps for county and
municipal adoption, sometime later in 2007. More information about the 90-day public review process
is available from the DNR's
floodplain mapping update page.
This website will update Dane County citizens on the floodplain
map progress and allow them to appeal or protest the maps.
Below are online copies of all available Preliminary FIRM maps for Dane County in Acrobat PDF format.
Some of these files are quite large (17 MB). Depending on the speed of your internet connection, they may
take as long as 15 minutes or more to download. You will probably get the best results if you right-mouse-click
and select "save target as," then save the file to your hard drive. You may want to review
the Summary of Map Actions first to see if there are significant changes in your area. The Flood Insurance
Study provides detailed information about how these maps were created.
Paper copies of these maps are also available for review at city and village offices
(see the County
Clerk's website for contact information) or at:
Dane County Department of Planning & Development
Zoning Division
Room 116, City County Building
Madison, WI 53703
For unincorporated areas, your town hall will have indexes to the preliminary FIRM panels, annotated
with some floodplain information, available.
Landowners may file an APPEAL if they believe the preliminary maps use incorrect flood
elevations. Appeals must be accompanied by a hydrologic study that refutes the flood
elevation as shown on the preliminary FIRM map.
View more information on our Appeals page.
Landowners may file a PROTEST or COMMENT if they believe the preliminary maps are incorrect
for any reason other than flood elevation. View more information on our
Protest page.
If you have additional questions that cannot be answered from the online resources above, contact us at:
Dane County Department of Planning & Development
ATTN: Floodplain Mapping Updates
Room 116, City County Building
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 266-1591
floodmaps@co.dane.wi.us
Date Revised: 3/7/07
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