Farmington Township residents planning on building on their property in 2013 can now proceed.
At their meeting Tuesday evening, the Farmington Township Supervisors approved an ordinance to bring the township into line with state flood plain guidelines.
When the township left county zoning earlier this year, it was removed from the county's flood plain map, as well. Regardless of whether or not a municipality has zoning regulations, state law requires that all municipalities have a flood plain ordinance.
Township Secretary June Jones told the supervisors that such an ordinance typically takes about six months to complete. She explained to the supervisors that if the ordinance was not in place by Jan. 1 "no one in the township could build."
The Warren County Commissioners approved the township's request to withdraw from the county zoning map in October, necessitating the expedited flood plain ordinance process.
The text of a legal notice published in the Times Observer on Dec. 10 indicated the supervisors' intent to adopt an ordinance that is "pursuant to the Flood Plain Management Act of 1978, requiring issuance of a floodplain permit prior to any construction or development within flood prone areas within the township."
Jones said the ordinance received a seal of approval from the township solicitor, Tim Wachter. "He made it right by our township," she said.
Chairman Ed Beardsley said the township has "done due diligence" through the process. "(There is) very little we pulled outjust altered it to make it fit a township" as opposed to boroughs and cities, he explained.