The following paragraphs provide a bulleted summary of the items discussed during the meeting:

Transcription

1 minutes Flood Insurance Study Update Meeting City of Vacaville Public Works Conference Room #2 650 Merchant Street Vacaville, California June 22, :00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. ATTENDEES: Tim Burke, Public Works, City of Vacaville Jeff Wanlass, West Yost Associates Eric Simmons, FEMA Region IX Lee Brancheau, BakerAECOM Mark Delorey, BakerAECOM PURPOSE: The community meeting regarding the FEMA s Flood Insurance study for the city of Vacaville was held on June 22, 2011, with representatives from the city of Vacaville, FEMA Region IX, West Yost Associates, and BakerAECOM. FEMA is restudying Gibson Canyon, Horse, Ulatis, and Alamo Creeks. This restudy affects the city of Vacaville and the unincorporated areas of Solano County. Other topics discussed during this meeting included the Sweeney Creek Flood Study and the New Look products. The following paragraphs provide a bulleted summary of the items discussed during the meeting: FEMA funded the Vacaville Flood Insurance Study in response to a request from the city of Vacaville due to significant changes in the watersheds since the effective studies were completed. Outreach was performed approximately 2 years ago for new Zone A areas. This outreach was performed prior to the issuance for the Solano Countywide DFIRM. Large Zone A areas added at the request of the city during Map Mod along Alamo Creek and Elmira. The preliminary and effective dates for the revised FIRM panel and FIS Report are TBD. FEMA plans to fund the mapping at a later date. Draft modeling/ mapping can be used for floodplain management purposes. The Draft Hydrology Report is available online at Vacaville requested that BFE be added for large zone A s for the purposes of Elevation Certificates (E.C.) The City of Vacaville and West Yost Associates have data that they can share with BakerAECOM. Data includes modeling and surveys along Alamo, Ulatis, and Horse Creeks. There has been 16 detention basins either completed or being built since the original Flood studies were conducted. The City would like the detention basins to be incorporated into the new Page 1 BakerAECOM, LLC members: Michael Baker Jr., Inc.; AECOM; Taylor Engineering, Inc.; and Gannett Fleming, Inc.

2 minutes flood study. A list of detention basins by watershed was provided to FEMA and BakerAECOM at the meeting. The City of Vacaville is going through the NEPA process on a few of the remaining detention basins which are 99% designed. At this point there are three new detention basins that should be complete by These include North Horse Creek No. 2, Ulatis Creek Regional, and Laguna Creek Regional. 100% of the basins have been modeled with HEC-1. There was also a watershed-wide study conducted in 2008 as a result of the 2005 floods. FEMA would like to obtain the modeling so that the available detention basins and watershed boundaries can be used to update the FEMA model. FEMA requested a formal response to the hydrology report. FEMA would like to get the community s blessing on the modeling prior to finalizing the report. Basin on the availability of community hydrologic information mentioned at the meeting, it was determined that the hydrology report will need to be revised due to; (1) missing detention basins and (2) need to update the watershed boundaries. The City reports flows being significantly lower in the eastern part of the City due to the operational storage of the 16 basins which were unknown to FEMA and its contractors during the scoping and hydrologic analysis stages of the project. There are 5 city gauges that were used to calibrate the city model. The city pointed out some items to consider; (1) detention basins; (2) overbank flooding which occurred during the 2002 and 2005 storms. During the 2005 storm the overbank flooding occurred during a year storm; (3) Several recent LOMRs; (4) there is no a longer a levee downstream of Alamo Creek. Best way to provide all available data is digitally. The city can provide the watershed files shortly. The detention basin storage data will take a few months. West Yost Associates noted that there are system-wide hydrologic models for each of the four watersheds, and these were developed of the current FEMA effective HEC-1 models. Planned meeting in fall to discuss hydraulic modeling. The following are few ways outreach can be conducted: 1. Fact Sheet 2. Website 3. Formal Letter 4. Meetings 5. Conference Calls 6. Web-ex FEMA should notify the Solano County Water Agency (SCWA) of ongoing flood studies. David Okita and Thomas Pate should be contacted. The Sweeney Creek restudy was discussed briefly. This study will affect the unincorporated areas of the Solano County. The change map for this area reflected mostly increases. The Sweeney Creek restudy is also being used as a FEMA nationwide prototype for a New Look map. The city liked the new colors and transparencies. The pilot products are digitally available on the Region IX website at Some of the advantages of the new products include the following: 1. Additional colors (FEMA is no longer limited by the Government Printing Office); 2. The pixel hatching for the flood zones has been replaced by solid shading; Page 2 BakerAECOM, LLC members: Michael Baker Jr., Inc.; AECOM; Taylor Engineering, Inc.; and Gannett Fleming, Inc.

3 minutes 3. Ability to create the FIS report and FIRM panels from the DFIRM database; 4. A more tabular FIS report that includes more dates; 5. Label and BFE lines reduced; 6. Fewer Notes to Users; 7. More precise water-surface elevations at each cross section; and 8. New panel size (the proposed standard panel will be size D, which will make it easier for local communities to print their own panels). ACTION ITEMS: Action Items for FEMA: FEMA to discuss NEPA application with David Connard (sp?), the grants branch chief at FEMA Region IX. (This issue has been resolved). FEMA to update SCWA on the new Solano County flood studies. Action Items for the City of Vacaville West Yost: Provide FEMA with the watershed boundary. (Provided by West Yost on 7/27/2011) Provide FEMA with the available modeling and detention pond data. (Some data provided 7/27/2011 as listed below, and additional data was provided on 9/2/2011). City storm drain maps in AutoCAD Ulatis Creek Drainage Study 2008 Ulatis Creek Analysis 2008 HEC1 models developed for the Ulatis Creek Drainage Study (seems to include HEC-1 for Alamo, Horse, Gibson also) ATTACHMENT Attendance Sign-in Sheet Page 3 BakerAECOM, LLC members: Michael Baker Jr., Inc.; AECOM; Taylor Engineering, Inc.; and Gannett Fleming, Inc.

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