Cherry Hill council had a brief meeting on July 10 to approve on second reading a state-required ordinance that helps create consistency in regulation for municipalities regarding flood damage prevention and flood hazard maps and also designates a floodplain administrator.
“The general idea is that they want municipalities to designate a point person, a floodplain administrator who will be the funnel for all development that occurs in the municipality and in the floodplain in particular,” said Cosmas Diamantis, director of community development.
“If you have structures that are within the floodplain, either new or existing, that you’re rehabilitating in some way, the goal of the regulation is to ensure that those structures are being built to withstand future flood hazards, to make them more resilient in the case of new structures or to bring old structures up to code so they withstand any flood damage,” he added.
Diamantis also noted that of 16 floodplain maps for Cherry Hill, only two were changed from the last time the ordinance was adopted and they involved typographical changes. So there shouldn’t be any expanded flood zones or new properties considered part of a flood zone.
“This is really to protect all of the properties already in a flood zone and make sure that the development of those properties remains above board and consistent with all these regulations,” Diamantis explained.
More information on the flood hazard ordinance can be found on the township website at https://chnj.gov/1401/Flood-Hazard-Ordinance.
During comments, Councilwoman Sangeeta Doshi said the green team and environmental board waited a long time for the resolution so the township could enter into a shared services agreement with Camden County for an arborist on an as-needed basis.
“An arborist will help with our tree initiative that we worked on last year,” Doshi said, referring to a major tree ordinance that outlined takedown and replacement requirements.
Following the council meeting, members held a town hall on cannabis, where they gave a brief presentation and spent the majority of the time listening to resident feedback.
In other news, the township’s summer events have officially kicked off. They include Music Under the Stars on Tuesday, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Barclay Farmstead. The Larger than Life boy tribute band will perform.
Pop Up Story Time in the Park is held on Fridays from 11 to 11:30 a.m. with librarians hosting a special story time at different township parks: this Friday at Croft Farm; July 28 at Barclay Farmstead; Aug. 4 at Croft Farm; Aug. 11 at
Barclay; and Aug. 18, again at Croft Farm
The next council meeting will be held on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
