I am looking at a lot that is described being in a "floodway".

What's the difference between this and a Floodplain.

Who at the county would I need to ask about the codes? The county engineer?



tia

if you have a map, the codes may be in the legend of the map

you might be able to find the map here, if you don't have it

http://msc.fema.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FemaWelcomeView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&userType=G

location?

You typically want to stay away from floodway but depending on the situation it could be fine.

I don't consider floodplain a big deal (especially in Houston) because you can always elevate out of it.

Floodway is a little trickier and usually means you border a creek or bayou and do not have established drainage off of your site. You may need special permits and engineering consultation to build in the floodway. If you do it correctly you can recover floodway and make it suitable for building.

I may be wrong, but I think you are not allowed to build in a floodway. What i seem to remember is that parts of Houston with houses became floodways in the latest maps making dfficult to sell becasue you can't do anything but maintenance to them.

I'd reconsider if I were you.

I'm pretty sure that you can't build in a flood way. It may be possible to go through the letter of map revision process to try to have the area redefined.

location is in Seguin, a good 200 yards from the Guadalupe.

The flood of 1998, which was the worse flood in 200 years, got the water level to part of the lot, but not all of it.

Beuatiful pecan trees, perfect size, perfect area and the lots are a very good value...

Funny as no one knows for sure.

What size it the "lot"? It may be that only a part of it is in the floodway and you could built on "high ground". But if it is a really good price, or too good to be true, watch out.

[This message has been edited by agdx88 (edited 2/28/2010 3:04p).]

The floodway is the portion of the floodplain that would be under 1 extra foot of water if hte rest of the floodplain is obstructed. As I recall no development that restricts the flow of floodwaters can be placed there. The drawing of them is extremely subjective. There are only "guidelines" on how and where the encroachments should be placed to create the deeper water. At the minimum though you should view floodway as "this place WILL flood" and "this place will likely flood OFTEN."

You cannot build in a floodway. You cannot fill in a floodway. You likely cannot build a fence or plant a shrub in a flodway. If you want to do any of these in a floodway, you will need to do an engineering study and the necessary modifications to reconfigure the floodway. This almost always involves extensive earthwork and construction upstream and downstream of the site. Not likely to happen.

In one city I worked for, we told people they could not stack firewood or place a swingset in the floodway. A floodway is the area needed to pass the design storm (100 year storm) without raising the Base Flood Elevation more than one foot (see diagram above).
If the land has a building site out of the floodway, it would be nice to just mow and look at.

[This message has been edited by buzzardb267 (edited 2/28/2010 8:55p).]

PM Sent

Excellent 10 year old thread bump.

Wait, you say you CAN build in a floodway but have to know how to get around the language, you are mad at the county official who is telling you know, you have incurred a substantial cost but are willing to share that costs with someone, and you need a real estate attorney.

I will side with the poster from 2010 who indicated it is indeed possible, but you are going to have to go through a permitting and approval process that will likely include extensive engineering and impact studies, notifications of adjacent property owners, etc. Cannot imagine any parcel is worth it, particularly considering the inherent risk of building in not just a floodplain but a freaking floodway.

I just had to reply here. I'm looking at a lot near the San Jacinto River in the Conroe Area. It is in a FEMA AE Regulatory Floodway. It is in a subdivision that is bordered by the river, most of the subdivision is empty and undeveloped, but there are a few scattered houses or mobile homes in the subdivision which is nearly entirely in the AE Floodway. The land is stupidly cheap (for the current price climate). I have watched the lots that have come up for sale and sold in this area. I've watched online and personally making visits to the area to see what the people are doing with them after they are sold. All of the lots are overgrown with 20 plus years of native growth and man is it thick. Most of the recently sold lots get somewhat cleared and the new owners use them for weekend RVing. There is one lot that is really close to the river that someone just built a real nice 2000 sqft home on. It's not on stilts and they didn't mound up the lot. I really don't see how they got away with it unless they just built it without permission and moved in. However it is my understanding that you cannot drill a water well or install an aerobic or septic system in a floodway and this subdivision doesn't have water and sewer, only power, phone and CATV. It is my experience as an electrical contractor in the area that the power company will not hook you up if the permits for your water well and septic/aerobic system are not in order, passed and finaled. I'm interested in the area because the land is cheap. I need a permanent location to park my trailers, trucks and store all of my junk. I wouldn't ever want or need flood insurance and most of my stuff would be mobile or in conex boxes and I could just move it when a flood comes. I've lived in this area for 45 years and have only seen this area flood three times. I really don't know what you can do with land like that except use it for livestock, gardening, wetland offsets, recreation or storage.

First you have to figure out if you're in a City. I assume you're in Montgomery County.
See Page 25 for what you're allowed to do in the floodway:

https://cms1files.revize.com/montgomerycountytx/document_center/1Flood%20Map/Montgomery%20County%20Floodplain%20Management%20Regulations.pdf

Storage of things that will float away in a flood would usually be allowed. Parking the trailers I think would be ok, but the storage boxes on the ground might be considered structures. Call or email the county engineer to confirm.

Not within the city limits of any municipality, yes, the property is in Montgomery County. It's off of FM 1314 in Magnolia Bend between Stidham Road (kinda behind River Plantation) and FM 242. The county's rules are pretty strict. I appreciate you pointing me to that document. That is exactly what I was looking for when I stumbled upon this tread. I have no idea how much it would cost to have all those engineers reports compiled and what the cost of obtaining permits would be. The property has been sold several times in the past few years and I'm sure that it's because the restrictions make the property unusable and the solutions are cost prohibitive. I have a friend who is a forester (and an Aggie) in the area and he is up on a lot of those rules and compliance requirements. He says property like that is often purchased by large companies that have to offset wetland improvements on another property. Say Exxon needed to fill in a wetland area at their new headquarters, they would be allowed to purchase a property like this and designate it was a permanent wetland to offset the destruction/improvement of the other wetland at their headquarters. Of course that is just an example and has nothing to do with Exxon or any other company. I am still real interested in this property regardless of what hoops I'd have to jump through to use the land. I would probably start with a three strand barbed wire fence and a heard of goats or sheep to clear a lot of the brush. I'd leave the majority of the trees and just store trailers and a few conex boxes there. It'd be really just a place to get away. I'd like to have a barn for a shop in the future if the permitting isn't too expensive. I could do something elevated on stilts or piles. I wouldn't want a residence on it for myself but having rental property is something I'd be interested in. But all that is speculation, Currently I just need a place to store my junk. The property I'm currently leasing is changing hands and I have one year to clear out when this lease is up.

A lot of your questions will be answered for free by the county engineer or one of his minions. Give them a call or send an email and ask to set up a quick meeting to discuss the property. They will be able to tell you if any of the properties are buyouts and will be required to be maintained as greenspace forever. They may even be able to answer a lot of your questions over the phone and help you determine if you need an engineer or not.