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The Floodplain Assistance Support Team (FAST) is here to provide focused and personalized support for property/business owners, developers, and designers needing timely and clear information about what can be built or developed in the floodplain.

This is a dedicated, interdepartmental team charged with prioritizing floodplain assistance and serving as the definitive group to help parties whose activities are subject to floodplain requirements. 

Parties needing special assistance to better evaluate their development options will be provided fee-free FAST Sessions. Dedicated time slots for FAST Sessions are offered twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday.  Once registered, the full team will be alerted and in attendance at the meeting. The findings and action steps from these meetings will be documented.

The FAST team will perform outreach to property owners who may have experienced substantial damage from Helene. They will start by reviewing properties that have already submitted permits on hold.

The permits on hold have generally

  1. Sustained substantial damage; or
  2. They are close to the substantial damage threshold.

These permits were placed on hold to provide staff the opportunity to work directly with the contractor and property owners on any up-to-date building value information such as pre-storm appraisals as well as their options for rebuilding.

You can contact the team by email at fast@ashevillenc.gov.

Resources for everyone

Flood Risk Information System – This map-based system allows users to zoom in to any area in NC. By clicking on a property, users can access several detailed records about the property, including flood information, building information and flood risk information (shown in percentages for current year and over 15 and 30 years).

FEMA Substantial Damage Quick Guide – A highly-summarized description of what Substantial Damage means, costs that are included,  and how these amounts are determined and the impact of a Substantial Damage Determination. (4 pages)

FEMA FAQ on Substantial Damage/Improvement – This expanded document is structured in an FAQ-style format that includes 36 questions commonly asked regarding the Substantial Damage process. The table of contents lists all the questions; answers are generally written in easy to follow language that provides more in-depth information on specific topics.  Section 1 – Introduction, describes how the document is structured and can be used. Includes references to other resources.  (40 pages)

Resources for engineers and consultants

FEMA SI/SD Desk Reference – This highly technical and detailed manual for floodplain administration includes a particular focus on the Substantial Damage/Improvement requirements for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This document is frequently referenced in the FAQ and provides even more in depth information and technical information. It is organized by topic and is much more technical than any of the documents listed above.  (174 pages)

Floodplain Management Complete Study Guide for Local OfficialsThis comprehensive document contains all the material and topics required to be known by floodplain administrators and includes flood-related disasters, the Flood Insurance Program, flood studies and maps, regulatory requirements and ordinances, enforcement, and disaster operations and mitigation. Unit 7 covers ordinance administration (pg. 7-4 through 7-60). Unit 8 covers Substantial Improvement and Substantial Damage (pg. 8-3 through 8-27). This is the most complex document and includes several appendices. It is primarily used as the training guide for floodplain administrators. (583 pages)