BUCKHANNON – The Upshur County Commission on Thursday tabled further discussions of any revisions to the county’s floodplain ordinance until the State of West Virginia rolls out a new floodplain ordinance model.

According to a previous My Buckhannon article, the Upshur County Commission had voted at its April 25 meeting to revise the Upshur County Floodplain Ordinance, opting to attach a percentage-based fee to building in the floodplain.

However, during the Thursday, May 2 meeting, county administrator Carrie Wallace told commissioners that, after their decision in the previous meeting, the state had decided make changes to their template – or model – of a county floodplain ordinance.

“The state is going to be rolling out some additional changes to the statewide template the majority of counties use to create their floodplain ordinance, and the recommendation is to wait until you get those changes and implement all of them, if there are any additional changes together,” Wallace said.

Wallace added she wanted to let the public know that hearings for the ordinance change may not happen for a month or two.

Commissioner Terry Cutright put forth the motion to table any further discussion of the ordinance change until they see the changes the state plans to enact, and commissioner Kristie Tenney seconded.

The commissioners unanimously voted to pass the motion.

County building permit officer and addressing and mapping coordinator Terri Jo Bennett had asked commissioners to attach some kind of fee to build in the floodplain. Bennett said a fee would help recoup, at least in part, the expense involved in the work that must be done by her office when someone opts to build in the floodplain.

Read more about the proposed floodplain ordinance revisions here and here.