418.9 Project application review.

1. a. A governmental entity shall submit an application to the board for approval of a project plan. The board shall not approve a project for inclusion in the program if the application is submitted after January 1, 2016.

b. The application shall specify whether the governmental entity is requesting financial assistance from the flood mitigation fund or approval for the use of sales tax revenues. Applications for financial assistance from the flood mitigation fund shall describe the type and amount of assistance requested. Applications for the use of sales tax revenues shall state the amount of sales tax revenues necessary for completion of the project.

2. Each application shall include or have attached to the application, the governmental entity’s project plan adopted under section 418.4, subsection 2. When reviewing applications, in addition to the project plan, the board shall consider, at a minimum, all of the following:

a. Whether the project is designed to mitigate future flooding of property that has sustained significant flood damage and is likely to sustain significant flood damage in the future.

b. Whether the project plan addresses the impact of flooding both upstream and downstream from the area where the project is to be undertaken and whether the project conforms to any applicable floodplain ordinance.

c. Whether the area that would benefit from the project’s flood mitigation efforts is sufficiently valuable to the economic viability of the state or is of sufficient historic value to the state to justify the cost of the project.

d. The extent to which the project would utilize local matching funds. The board shall not approve a project unless at least fifty percent of the total cost of the project, less any federal financial assistance for the project, is funded using local matching funds, and unless the project will result in nonpublic investment in the governmental entity’s area as defined in section 418.11, subsection 3, of an amount equal to fifty percent of the total cost of the project. For purposes of this paragraph, “nonpublic investment” means investment by nonpublic entities consisting of capital investment or infrastructure improvements occurring in anticipation of or as a result of the project during the period of time between July 1, 2008, and ten years after the board approved the project.

e. The extent of nonfinancial support committed to the project from public and nonpublic sources.

f. Whether the project is designed in coordination with other watershed management measures adopted by the governmental entity or adopted by the participating jurisdictions of the governmental entity, as applicable.

g. Whether the project plan is consistent with the applicable comprehensive emergency plan in effect and other applicable local hazard mitigation plans.

h. Whether financial assistance through the flood mitigation program is essential to meet the necessary expenses or serious needs of the governmental entity related to flood mitigation.

3. If requested by the board during consideration of an application, the governmental entity shall pay for an independent engineering review of the project to determine the technical feasibility, engineering standards, and total estimated cost of the project. An engineering review required by the board under this subsection may be completed by the United States army corps of engineers.

4. Upon review of the applications, the board, following consultation with the economic development authority, shall approve, defer, or deny the applications. If a project plan is denied, the board shall state the reasons for the denial and the governmental entity may resubmit the application so long as the application is filed on or before January 1, 2016. If a project plan application is approved, the board shall specify whether the governmental entity is approved for the use of sales tax revenues under section 418.12 or whether the governmental entity is approved to receive financial assistance from the flood mitigation fund under section 418.10. If the board approves a project plan application that includes financial assistance from the flood mitigation fund, the board shall negotiate and execute on behalf of the department all necessary agreements to provide such financial assistance. If the board approves a project plan application that includes the use of sales tax increment revenues, the board shall establish the annual maximum amount of such revenues that may be remitted to the governmental entity not to exceed the limitations in section 418.12, subsection 4. The board may, however, establish remittance limitations for the project lower than the individual project remittance limitations specified for projects under section 418.12, subsection 4.

5. The board shall not approve a project plan application that includes financial assistance from the flood mitigation fund or the use of sales tax revenue to pay principal and interest on or to refinance any debt or other obligation existing prior to the approval of the project.

6. The board shall not approve a project plan application for which the amount of sales tax increment revenue remitted to the governmental entity would exceed fifteen million dollars in any one fiscal year or if approval of the project would result in total remittances in any one fiscal year for all approved projects to exceed, in the aggregate, thirty million dollars.

7. Upon approval of an application for financial assistance under the program, the board shall notify the treasurer of state regarding the amount of moneys needed to satisfy the award of financial assistance and the terms of the award. The treasurer of state shall notify the department any time moneys are disbursed to a recipient of financial assistance under the program.

8. If, following approval of a project application under the program, it is determined that the amount of federal financial assistance exceeds the amount of federal financial assistance specified in the application, the board shall reduce the award of financial assistance from the flood mitigation fund or reduce the amount of sales tax revenue to be received for the project by a corresponding amount. However, in a county with a population of less than one hundred thousand but more than ninety-three thousand five hundred as determined by the 2010 federal decennial census and for projects that received bids during the 2015 calendar year, the amount of sales tax revenue to be received for the project shall not be reduced if the additional federal financial assistance does not reduce the need for sales tax revenue due to an increase in project costs incurred following the approval of the project application under the program.

2012 Acts, ch 1094, §10, 18; 2012 Acts, ch 1138, §70, 84, 85; 2013 Acts, ch 29, §55; 2015 Acts, ch 138, §17, 161, 162

Referred to in §418.1, 418.4, 418.12, 418.15