[Added May 1980 by Art. 50, approved 8-27-1980; amended January 1990 STM by Art. 16, approved 3-26-1990; May 1993 ATM by Art. 56, approved 7-9-1993; May 1999 ATM by Art. 18, approved 8-19-1999; 6-18-2012 by Ord. No. 12-091; 6-2-2025 by Order No. 25-035]
The Floodplain District is established for the following purposes:
A. 
Ensure public safety through reducing the threats to life and personal injury.
B. 
Eliminate new hazards to emergency response officials.
C. 
Prevent the occurrence of public emergencies resulting from water quality, contamination, and pollution due to flooding.
D. 
Avoid the loss of utility services which if damaged by flooding would disrupt or shut down the utility network and impact regions of the community beyond the site of flooding.
E. 
Eliminate costs associated with the response and cleanup of flooding conditions.
F. 
Reduce damage to public and private property resulting from flooding waters.
A. 
The Floodplain District is herein established as an overlay district. The district includes all special flood hazard areas within the Town of Weymouth designated as Zone A, AE, AH, AO, A99. V, or VE on the Norfolk County Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) dated July 8, 2025, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the administration of the National Flood Insurance Program. The exact boundaries of the district may be defined by the 1%-chance base flood elevations shown on the FIRM and further defined by the Norfolk County Flood Insurance Study (FIS) report dated July 8, 2025. The FIRM and FIS report are incorporated herein by reference and are on file with the Town Clerk.
B. 
The Town of Weymouth hereby designates the position of Principal Planner to be the official floodplain administrator for the Town.
C. 
The Chief Building Official (CBO) will have review and enforcement authority over this article and for any project initiated lawfully through the building permit process. The Conservation Administrator and the Weymouth Conservation Commission will have review and enforcement authority over any development in the floodplain under the Wetland Protection Act and Local Wetland Protection Ordinance.
D. 
The Town of Weymouth requires a permit for all proposed construction or other development in the Floodplain Overlay District, including new construction or changes to existing buildings, placement of manufactured homes, placement of agricultural facilities, fences, sheds, storage facilities or drilling, mining, paving and any other development that might increase flooding or adversely impact flood risks to other properties.
E. 
The town's Permit review process includes the requirement that the proponent obtain all local, state and federal permits that will be necessary in order to carry out the proposed development in the Floodplain Overlay District. The proponent must acquire all necessary permits, and must demonstrate that all necessary permits have been acquired.
F. 
The boundaries of the Floodplain District shall be determined by scaling distance on the National Flood Insurance Program maps. Where interpretation is needed as to the exact location of the boundaries of the district as shown on the National Flood Insurance Program maps, the Inspector of Buildings shall make the necessary interpretation.
G. 
Unnumbered A Zones. In A Zones, in the absence of FEMA BFE data and floodway data, the Building Department will obtain, review and reasonably utilize base flood elevation and floodway data available from a Federal, State, or other source as criteria for requiring new construction, substantial improvements, or other development in Zone A and as the basis for elevating residential structures to or above base flood level, for floodproofing or elevating nonresidential structures to or above base flood level, and for prohibiting encroachments in floodways.
H. 
Any discrepancy with the boundaries and/or elevations as given on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) shall be submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Flood Insurance Administration, for its approval; otherwise, the conditions and requirements of this bylaw shall apply to the land in accordance with the Floodplain Zone as shown.
I. 
Notification of watercourse alteration. In a riverine situation, the Conservation Commission shall notify the following of any alteration or relocation of a watercourse:
(1) 
Adjacent communities.
(2) 
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) State Coordinator, Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation.
(3) 
NFIP Program Specialist, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region 1.
A. 
Within the Floodplain Overlay District, all uses shall follow the specific permitted uses and special permit uses of the underlying zoning district.
B. 
All provisions of this bylaw affecting a permitted use shall be applicable in the Floodplain District.
C. 
The special permit granting authority shall be the Board of Zoning Appeals.
D. 
In addition to all provisions of this bylaw that affect the underlying district, the following additional procedures shall apply for all filling, permitted uses, special permitted uses and substantial improvements of any structure (the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure) where any portion of such lies within the various floodplain zones as stipulated below:
(1) 
Zones A, AO, AE: A special permit from the special permit granting authority is required, subject to the special criteria set forth in §§ 120-38.4 and 120-38.5 and subject to the procedures of § 120-123.
(2) 
Zone VE.
(a) 
A special permit from the special permit-granting authority is required, subject to the criteria set forth in §§ 120-38.4 and 120-38.5 and subject to the procedures of § 120-123 when any portion thereof is located landward of mean high tide.
(b) 
Seaward of mean high tide new structures are prohibited and existing structures shall not be enlarged.
(3) 
Man-made alteration of sand dunes within Zone VE which would increase potential flood damage is prohibited.
(4) 
Floodway Encroachment: In Zones A, A1-30, and AE, along watercourses that have not had a regulatory floodway designated, the best available Federal, State, local, or other floodway data shall be used to prohibit encroachments in floodways which would result in any increase in flood levels within the community during the occurrence of the base flood discharge.
In Zones A1-30 and AE, along watercourses that have a regulatory floodway designated on the Town's/City's FIRM or Flood Boundary & Floodway Map (choose map which delineates floodways for your community) encroachments are prohibited, including fill, new construction, substantial improvements, and other development within the adopted regulatory floodway unless it has been demonstrated through hydrologic and hydraulic analyses performed in accordance with standard engineering practice that the proposed encroachment would not result in any increase in flood levels within the community during the occurrence of the base flood discharge.
(5) 
In A, A1-30, AH, AO, AE Zones, V1-30, VE, and V Zones, all recreational vehicles to be placed on a site must be elevated and anchored in accordance with the zone's regulations for foundation and elevation requirements or be on the site for less than 180 consecutive days or be fully licensed and highway ready.
(6) 
If the Town/City acquires data that changes the base flood elevation in the FEMA mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas, the Town/City will, within six months, notify FEMA of these changes by submitting the technical or scientific data that supports the change(s.) Notification shall be submitted to:
•
NFIP State Coordinator
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
•
NFIP Program Specialist
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region I
The following criteria shall apply to all permits granted within the 100-year floodplain:
A. 
All subdivision proposals must be designed to assure that:
(1) 
Such proposals minimize flood damage;
(2) 
All public utilities and facilities are located and constructed to minimize or eliminate flood damage; and
(3) 
Adequate drainage is provided to reduce exposure to flood hazards.
(4) 
Base flood elevation data for subdivision proposals: when proposing subdivisions or other developments greater than 50 lots or five acres (whichever is less), the proponent must provide technical data to determine base flood elevations for each developable parcel shown on the design plans.
B. 
Within Zone AO and AH on the FIRM, adequate drainage paths must be provided around structures on slopes, to guide floodwaters around and away from proposed structures.
C. 
The Town will request from the State Building Code Appeals Board a written and/or audible copy of the portion of the hearing related to the variance, and will maintain this record in the community's files.
The Town shall also issue a letter to the property owner regarding potential impacts to the annual premiums for the flood insurance policy covering that property, in writing over the signature of a community official that (i) the issuance of a variance to construct a structure below the base flood level will result in increased premium rates for flood insurance up to amounts as high as $25 for $100 of insurance coverage and (ii) such construction below the base flood level increases risks to life and property.
Such notification shall be maintained with the record of all variance actions for the referenced development in the Floodplain Overlay District.
D. 
Variances to local Zoning Bylaws related to community compliance with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP): A variance from these floodplain bylaws must meet the requirements set out by State law, and may only be granted if: 1) good and sufficient cause and exceptional non-financial hardship exist; 2) the variance will not result in additional threats to public safety, extraordinary public expense, or fraud or victimization of the public; and 3) the variance is the minimum action necessary to afford relief.
E. 
Abrogation and greater restriction section: The floodplain management regulations found in this Floodplain Overlay District section shall take precedence over any less restrictive conflicting local laws,
F. 
Disclaimer of liability: The degree of flood protection required by this article is considered reasonable but does not imply total flood protection.
G. 
Severability section. If any section, provision or portion of this article is deemed to be unconstitutional or invalid by a court, the remainder of the ordinance shall be effective.
A. 
The special permit granting authority may require such information, data and testing to be performed at the applicant's expense in order to achieve a finding of compliance. Such information may include but not be limited to spot elevations and drainage calculations.
B. 
The special permit granting authority may approve any application for a special permit where specified in § 120-38.3D only if it finds that, in its judgment, all of the following criteria are met:
(1) 
The subject land is not subject to flooding or, if Subsection B(1) is not proven, then:
(2) 
The subject land is not unsuitable because of drainage conditions on-site as well as on abutting properties upstream and downstream.
(3) 
The proposed activity will not increase the water surface elevation of the 100-year flood at any point within the Town.
The following criteria shall apply to any special permit use granted within the 100-year floodplain:
Within the Floodplain District, 100-year flood elevations shown on the approved Flood Insurance Rate Map shall govern. Where the 100-year flood elevation is not provided, the Planning Board shall produce and maintain any already existing 100-year flood elevation data, and it shall be used to meet the above requirements.
The Floodplain District is established as an overlay district to all other districts. All development in the floodplain, including structural and nonstructural activities, whether permitted by right or by special permit, may be subject to compliance with other regulations such as, but not limited to:
A. 
MGL c. 131, § 40.
B. 
Massachusetts State Building Code, 780 CMR 3107.0, Flood Resistant Construction.
C. 
Inland Wetland Restriction, DEP, 302 CMR 6.00.
D. 
Coastal Wetlands Restriction, DEP, 302 CMR 4.00.
E. 
Minimum Requirements for Subsurface Disposal of Sanitary Sewerage, DEP 310 CMR 15, Title 5.