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U.s. Department of Homeland Seenrlty
Region X
Federal Regiona1 Center
130 - 228th Street, Southwost
BotheIl, WA 98021-8627
FEMA
August 17,2011
CERTIFIED MAIL
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
Phillip Morley
Jefferson County Administrator
Post Office Box 1220
Port Townsend, Washington 98368
o rE(crEn~rE n
. AUG 2 3 2011 U
./EFFERSON COUNIY
DEPT. OF COMMUNnv D PMENT
Dear Mr. Morley:
This letter is a follow-up to my letter dated July 28,2010 concerning implementation of the
Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RP A) outlined in the September 22, 2008 Biological Opinion
for the implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in the Puget Sound region.
This Opinion was issued by the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS). In the July 28,2010
letter and in additional technical assistance and outreach events, we discussed three options to
demonstrate compliance with the performance standards outlined in the RP A. The Department of
Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Managc;:ment Agency (FEMA) has provided this
information to all of the 122 affected communities.
The following are the three options that we have provided to your community for complying with
the performance standards in the RP As. The first two options take a programm..ttc approach. The
third option requires demonstration of compliance on a permit by permit basis.
1) Adopting an Endangered Species Act (ESA) compliant ordinance. FEMA provided your
community with an ESA model ordinance that addresses the RP A performance standards.
2) Use of the FEMA provided Biological Opinion checklist. This checklist provides an avenue for
communities to demonstrate that your current and proposed ordinances, policies, and written
procedures meet or exceed the RP A performance standards.
3) Permit by permit approach. If your community chooses this option, you must require the
applicant or provide a habitat assessment that determines that the development project will not
have an adverse effect or provide concurrence from the Services that the project is compliant with
ESA.
FEMA must demonstrate compliance with the Biological Opinion by September 22, 2011.
Therefore, by September 22, 2011 if your community has not done so, please indicate to us in
writing which of the three options you have chosen and provide documentation for that option (ESA
ordinance, checklist, and any procedures associated with the permit by permit approach, etc.) that
implements the RP A performance standards. FEMA will review these documents and confirm
compliance with the RP A performance standards. If a community has chosen not to adopt the model
ordinance or provided a completed Biological Opinion checklist, the community will need to
implement the third option of the permit by permit review.
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Phillip Morley
August 17,2011
2
If your community is unable to adopt the ESA model ordinance or have not completed a review of
existing regnlations and procedures using the Biological Opinions checklist to show compliance by
September 22, 2011, you may demonstrate your intention to comply by that date by notifying FEMA
of the delay, the documents that need to be fin..lized, and the projected date in which the complete
package will be submitted. FEMA will review any adopted ordinances, procedures, and policies you
submit in the meantime. Until FEMA approves all aspects of the compliance package, the
community will need to implement the third option of the permit by permit review.
After the September 22, 2011 deadline, FEMA will have implemented all aspects of the RP A's and
will shift to comp1iance monitoring of communities implementing the option they chose for meeting
the RP A performance standards. Communities will be placed into a queue for compliance
monitoring visits, with priority given to those communities that have failed to choose a compliance
option or failed to provide annual reports.
In the following weeks, FEMA will provide further technical assistance and clarifying gnidance on
implementing the RP A standards to communities. In the meantime, please feel free to contact
John Graves of my staff if you have any further questions via email atjobn.gravesl@dhs.gov, or by
telephone at (425) 487-4737.
Sincerely,
~~
Mark Carey, Director
Mitigation Division
cc: Scott McKinney, W.."hington State NFlP Coordinator
Stacie Hoskins, Community Development Director, Jefferson County