Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Supervisor Amy Dubois asked for a clearly defined appeal process and a definition of market value in our Mathews floodplain ordinance.

The draft G.C. Morrow presented adds an appeal process another locality uses that FEMA approved. It adds sources for market value FEMA finds acceptable. It clarifies when requirements like elevation apply to existing structures and says all new structures must comply in full. Market value determines when elevation is required—if repairs cost more than 50 percent of market value before the damage, or if an improvement will cost more than 50 percent of the market value at the start of construction.

Attorneys (Daniel) Stuck and (Andrew) McRoberts, who worked on the ordinance, both deleted the definition of market value and moved the ordinance into zoning to use the Board of Zoning Appeals. Without agreed upon ways to determine market value, the county can take a position on value that will end up in a dispute going to cour...