VE Flood Zone Amendment in Newport Beach

The city of Newport Beach implemented new FEMA Flood Insurance Maps on March 21, 2019, which designates a Special Flood Hazard Area (VE Zone) along Balboa Peninsula. The city did not agree with the new legislature and tried to appeal it. The Senior Planner on the Newport Beach Planning Commission, Liz Westmoreland, said “We fought back and we were able to fortunately remove a lot of areas from the flood zone, so we did have a lot of wins as part of that process, but…we were not able to remove this particular area form the VE floor zone.” This newly designated VE Zone encompasses 166 properties on West Ocean Front, spanning from 24th Street to 48th Street. Within the affected properties, any new construction must implement elevated structures such as pilings, posts, piers, or columns to lift the structure’s first floor three to five feet to comply with FEMA design criteria.