1. FLOOD PLAINS

2. JURISDICTION Police power is the power of government to regulate public health, safety, morals, and welfare. The police power authority of Ohio counties and townships originates through direct statutory delegation by the Ohio General Assembly under ORC 307.37 and 307.85. Municipalities (cities and villages) are granted authority through delegation by the state constitution under (Ohio Constitution, Article XVIII, Section 3).

3. COMPLIANCE All development undertaken by ODOT (federally funded or state funded) in a federally identified Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) within a given jurisdiction (county or municipality) must comply with the performance standards of the respective locally-adopted flood risk reduction regulations. ODOT is required to meet or exceed local flood damage reduction standards.

4. PERMITTING Any entity involved in 1 development located in a federally identified SFHA within a given jurisdiction (county, municipality, township, or village) must comply with the performance standards of the respective locally adopted flood risk reduction regulations.

5. DEVELOPMENT Any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, paving, excavation or drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials. (Ohio Flood Plain Management Handbook.

6. PERMITTED WORK 2014 ESA GUIDELINES

7. REQUIREMENTS ODNR has stated that the most minor maintenance project must at a minimum go through ODOT’s internal permitting process to determine whether or not any positive or negative impact to the floodway will occur.

8. INTERNAL PERMITTING The Office of Hydraulics is in charge of the permitting process. A basic application process is required to determine if an impact to the floodway will occur. If not, the project can continue. If there is a potential impact further study is required by the Office of Hydraulics.

9. REHABILITATION

10. OFFICE OF HYDRAULICS For all new construction and rehabilitation projects that may be located in a flood plain, ODOT Office of Hydraulics has developed and follows the guidelines in the L&D manual for permitting. The L&D manual states that an internal permit will be completed in accordance with the procedures established in the ODOT Location and Design Manual (L&D Manual) Volume 2, Drainage Design, Section 1005 – Highway Encroachments on Floodplains for all projects to satisfy the requirements contained in 23 CFR 650, Subpart A.

11. COORDINATION Coordination with the local Floodplain Administrator as specified in Sections 1005 and 1006.4 [Controls Specific to Floodplain Insurance Studies (FIS)] will be combined with the requirements of NEPA to streamline efforts between ODOT and the local Floodplain Administrator.

12. NEPA Once the project reaches a point where coordination with the local flood plain administrator has been completed a copy will be added to the project documentation and recorded on the form indicating that coordination has been completed. This documentation will become part of the overall Categorical Exclusion (CE) document to meet ODOTs NEPA requirements.