Floodplain Management

Floodplain management is a community-based effort to prevent or reduce the risk of flooding, resulting in a more resilient community. Multiple departments within the City of Ocoee work together to ensure the safety of our community and the preservation of our environment. Our community continues to bolster our flood resiliency through building codes, zoning laws, enforcement, educational outreach, and other tasks. While FEMA and the State of Florida have minimum floodplain management standards, the City of Ocoee chooses to adopt higher standards that will lead to a safer, stronger, and more resilient community.

Hdroloogical_Cycle
Characteristics of a Floodplain

Floodplain Development

Ocoee’s Comprehensive Plan

This vision details the future development of the city.

The Conservation (PDF) and Recreation and Open Space Elements (PDF) describe how Ocoee promotes and enhances the conservation, use, and protection of the city's natural resources. Management of excess surface waters generated during storm events due to development is described in the Drainage Element (PDF). These elements help ensure a healthy balance between our natural and built environments.

Ocoee’s Ordinances

These rules protect areas designated in the Comprehensive Plan as being environmentally sensitive through the establishment of appropriate land use and development regulations. 

The Floodplain Management Ordinance builds upon flood load and flood-resistant construction requirements of the Florida Building Code to establish minimum requirements based on our local geography to safeguard the public health, safety, and general welfare. This minimizes public and private loss through regulation of new development and substantial improvement and substantial damage projects in flood hazard areas.



The City of Ocoee protects designated areas adopted in our Comprehensive Plan as being environmentally sensitive through the establishment of appropriate land use and development regulations under our Natural Resources Management Ordinance.

 


The City’s Stormwater Management Ordinance establishes strategies to reduce surface water runoff volume from impervious services to protect our community and the environment through flood mitigation and water treatment.

 


Our surface waters are protected from excess nutrient loading that can result in Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) of our lakes and waterways through the City’s Water Conservation Ordinance and Fertilizer Management Ordinance.

 

Ocoee’s Engineering Standards

This manual is a technical guideline for engineering materials’ design and construction established to carry out the purposes of the Land Development Code.

Article 34: Stormwater Management (PDF) provides design criteria for proposed stormwater management systems within the city to ensure proper flood mitigation and stormwater treatment requirements are met as an aspect of Ocoee’s Floodplain Management Program.

 

Additional Resources

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  1. https://www.floridadisaster.org/dem/mitigation/floodplain/community-resources/
  2. https://www.epa.gov/greeningepa/water-management-epa
  3. https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/our-built-and-natural-environments
  4. https://www.orangecountyfl.net/Environment/FloodAwareness.aspx#.Ytlp4HbML-g
  5. https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/stormwater-management_0.pdf