What’s the Difference Between a No-Rise Certificate and an Elevation Certificate in New Braunfels, TX?
As you’re going through the project planning phase, you’ll need to make sure your building will be designed to conform to all the codes in your area. During this process, you may very well need to apply for certain types of certificates, depending on some of the characteristics of the land you’ll be building on.
Two examples of these types of certificates include no-rise and elevation certificates in New Braunfels, TX. Here’s a bit about each of them and how they differ from each other.
No-rise certificates
Any project located in a floodway must undergo proper review to determine if the project will result in increased flood heights in the area. Civil engineers will conduct an expert analysis of the land before a permit for the project can be issued.
The community’s permit file must contain a record of the analysis conducted by the engineer. This can come in the form of a no-rise certification. This certification must be supported through the use of technical data, and signed by a registered professional engineer. The data used to support the certification must be based on the step-backwater computer model that was used to develop the 100-year floodway featured on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) or Flood Boundary and Floodway Map (FBFM).
Elevation certificate
The permit file for a community is required to have an official record that includes information about new buildings and any substantial improvements in identified Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), indicating these new buildings or improvements will be built at the proper elevation.
This elevation is required to demonstrate compliance with floodplain management ordinances. FEMA encourages communities to use its elevation certificate that it developed to fulfill this obligation, as the certificate can also be used by the person or entity that owns the property to purchase flood insurance policies.
In addition, any communities that participate in the Community Rating System (CRS) for elevation and flood analysis are required to use FEMA’s elevation certificate.
The main differences here are that a no-rise certificate has more to do with preventing flood levels and waters from rising, whereas an elevation certificate merely states the building is designed at the proper elevation. The process of analyzing the project and land for a no-rise certificate is therefore a bit more complex—it takes more measurements and calculations to determine that the building, once complete, will not result in rising flood levels, and also requires knowledge of the 100-year floodway as set out by FEMA.
This is merely a cursory overview of these two types of certifications. For more information, we encourage you to either contact Bettersworth & Associates, Inc. or to pay a visit to the FEMA website. There, you’ll have access to all the information you need about how you can obtain these certificates and scenarios in which you would need to do so, as well as links to the actual rules as laid out by the National Flood Insurance Program.
Contact Bettersworth & Associates, Inc. today for more information about getting an elevation certificate in New Braunfels, TX.
Categorised in: Elevation Certificate