When Farmington's new federal flood maps take effect Nov. 13, the town will not follow them all the way down. In Zone 1, one of two areas where Farmington has set its own flood heights since 1977, the new maps put the flood line about 3.5 feet lower than the 2008 maps did. The town's planning and engineering staff chose to keep Farmington's own numbers anyway, and on Sept. 28 the Town Plan and Zoning Commission adopted rules that do.
"After careful consideration and review of our personal experience within the town of Farmington during significant weather events, primarily rain events, we are choosing to not alter the zone one and two elevations," Town Planner Shannon Rutherford told the commission.
For homeowners, the bigger news may be quieter. Some who won an exemption from the flood zone years ago will lose it when the maps change, and FEMA will not tell them. Some homes that never needed flood insurance may need it now. No one has counted how many: Rutherford said no full itemized list has been made.
The date is settled
When the Mercury first reported on the new maps in May, Rutherford gave Nov. 13 with a hedge, and the town's web page still said late 2026 or early 2027. On Sept. 28 Rutherford told the commission that FEMA has made the maps and the flood study behind them final, effective Nov. 13, 2026.
The commission's vote was required. Without updated rules in place by that date, Farmington would lose its eligibility for the National Flood Insurance Program, the federal program that makes flood insurance available to homeowners. No one from the public spoke at the hearing.
What it means for homeowners
Most areas changed only a little, according to Rutherford, but a handful of others changed enough that owners who did not need flood insurance may need it now. The notice usually will not come from FEMA. If a mortgaged home falls into the new flood zone, the bank or the insurance company will tell the owner that coverage is now required.
The easiest group to miss is homeowners who got out of the flood zone years ago with a letter of map amendment, a survey showing the house sits above the flood level. FEMA's summary of map actions for Farmington, which the town planning office has, lists which of those letters stay in force and which are superseded. Letters that stay in force keep working, and nothing changes. Letters marked superseded will no longer be valid, and those houses will be treated as inside the flood zone. FEMA does not notify either group.
A homeowner with an old letter, or anyone unsure where a line now falls, can call the Planning Department at 860-675-2325. Our May story walks through how to check an address on FEMA's map and how an appeal works.
Appeals take more than a neighbor's memory. While the maps were being drawn, FEMA would weigh an objection only if it came with engineering data. "The average John Smith saying, well, my backyard doesn't flood, is not going to cut it," Rutherford said. Once the maps take effect, an owner who thinks a line is wrong can hire a surveyor to measure the house and file for a letter of map amendment, which Rutherford called a fairly standard job for local surveyors.
Farmington kept its own line
The town's rules define where Zone 1 and Zone 2 are; the meeting did not name the streets. In Zone 2, the new federal maps barely changed. In Zone 1, where they dropped about 3.5 feet, keeping the town's numbers leaves Farmington's standard stricter than the new federal line.
The only change to the town's figures was technical. Elevations are measured in feet from a fixed reference point, and the new maps use a newer one; converting to it lowered the town's numbers by 0.81 feet, which staff rounded to one foot.
Under the adopted rules, a new home, or one undergoing a major renovation, must have its lowest floor, including the basement, at elevation 181 feet in Zone 1 and 176 feet in Zone 2. Rutherford described those as two feet above the flood elevations the town's own rules set for those zones. Elsewhere in the flood zone, the lowest floor must sit at least one foot above the base flood elevation, the height FEMA expects water to reach in a flood with a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year.
The state's flood insurance coordinator, Diane Ifkovic of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, confirmed the town's draft met federal requirements and will review the final version with FEMA, according to Rutherford.
Other changes in the rules
- Furnaces and wiring go up, too. Heating and air-conditioning equipment, ductwork, oil and propane tanks, water heaters, washer and dryer hookups, and electrical panels and junction boxes serving a building in the flood zone must sit at least one foot above the base flood elevation. Equipment may go lower only when there is no other option, and then it must be built to keep water out.
- No added flooding from building in the floodway, the channel that carries the main flow. New construction there may not raise flood levels at all, and fences must be open and lined up with the flow of water.
- Three map panels on the east side of town, near the West Hartford line, were not redrawn and keep their 2008 date.
The commission also updated the town's subdivision rules to match.
Where to look
The official maps are on the FEMA Map Service Center. The new maps are already posted there under pending products, Rutherford said, though the site's interactive map is expected to keep showing the 2008 version until about Nov. 13 or 14. FEMA published its own notices, and the town ran a newspaper notice and sent alerts with links to the mapping through Everbridge, its notification service.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has covered Farmington's flood maps since the first federal letter arrived in May, and has learned to read a flood map panel without squinting. Second coffee. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the town nobody else is covering: the meeting that ran late, the log nobody typed up, the zoning amendment that turns out to be about your insurance bill. We publish slowly and without apology. Always last to breaking news, thorough about everything else. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. #WeAreFarmington 📰