(Nov. 28) - During Monday’s Sikeston City Council meeting, Council approved an amendment to the City’s floodplain regulations.

Barry Blevins, Sikeston community development director, said the ordinance was out of date and hadn’t been updated since 2009. Typically, SEMA (State Emergency Management Agency) wants the ordinance updated every 5-10 years.

Bruce Copeland, the city’s floodplain manager, said changes aren’t going to change anything but just keeps the city compliant with SEMA.

“It basically just changes the verbiage,” Copeland said. “It updates the language and clarifies a few things.”

Blevins said the changes made to the floodplain regulations keeps Sikeston in good standing with NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) standards. By not being in good standing, he said it would make it very difficult for people living in a floodplain to get insurance.

The changes were questioned at Monday’s meeting, saying it makes it difficult for people to build in Sikeston and that it could possibly raise the cost of flood insurance.

Blevins said that the city doesn’t control the cost of flood insurance but assured residents that the regulations in the flood zones were the same. Nothing was added.

“There should be no additional cost to anybody,” Blevins said. “These regulations have already been practiced. All we did was update to put us in line with state statutes.”

Sikeston City Manager Jonathan Douglass said at Monday’s City Council meeting that he along with Blevins, Sikeston Public Works Director Jay Lancaster, and Blevins’ staff, reviewed the changes very carefully. He said the only things moved into the city ordinance were the things that were absolutely required.

“It was mostly definitions,” Douglass said. "It wasn’t any substantive changes that would make it harder to develop or maintain a home.”

Blevins also added that a new floodplain map for New Madrid County could be coming out next year while it may be two to three years for a new map in Scott County.

He also said that anybody who wants to know if they are in a flood zone, or is in a flood zone wanting to build on to their property should contact Sikeston Community Development at (573) 475-3743.

“What we’ve done in the past, we will continue to do in the future,” Blevins said.