FEMA Flood Plain Management

The City of Westlake, incorporated in 2016, is one of the newest municipalities in south Florida. The City spans over 4,000 acres and previously consisted of agricultural fields, irrigation ditches and canal systems. These existing flooding sources encompass nearly the entire City and carry a flood zone “AE” designation. Flood insurance is a financial drain on homeowners and developers who carry these costs, which must be maintained as long as the existing “AE” flood zone designations remain. Simmons & White, Inc. has been responsible for obtaining conceptual approval of future flood elevations, which are relied upon for all current and future development within the City to mitigate flood risks. Examples of currently completed developments within the City include civic, fire stations, medical facilities, Florida Power & Light solar fields, commercial, warehouse, and residential.

In 2019 Simmons & White, Inc. obtained a Conditional Letter of Map Revisions (CLOMR) for the City of Westlake. As part of this application, a hydraulic model and analysis was prepared based on historic and current surveys to create an “effective” baseline for the 100-year elevation floodmap.  A separate hydraulic model was developed based on conceptual buildout of the City and master lake system to identify the future floodplain limits.

As projects have been developed, Simmons & White, Inc. has incorporated asbuilt data with hydraulic modeling to demonstrate the changes in flood elevations when integrating existing undeveloped land with completed areas of construction. To date, seven Letters of Map Revision (LOMR), and two Letters of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-F) have been obtained.