After a large crowd of sometimes raucous residents spoke out forcefully against Mathews County’s proposed floodplain ordinance during a public hearing Tuesday night, the board of supervisors decided to amend the document and hold a second public hearing next month.

Tuesday’s meeting was moved from the historic courthouse down the street to the Thomas Hunter Middle School multi-purpose room to accommodate the large turnout.

As proposed, the ordinance would not only meet all federal requirements to ensure that residents would be eligible for federally-subsidized floodplain insurance, but would exceed those requirements in three areas.

It would place the same requirements for building in the V and VE zones as in the Coastal A, or high hazard, zone; would require one foot of “freeboard” (an extra foot of elevation above the base flood elevation) for all new construction in those zones; and would require full compliance with all provisions of the ordinance for an ...