Simpson on the elevations of Smith Farm, needing staggering amounts of fill

Nancy Simpson spoke at the DR Horton hearing on February 12, 2025. As a floodplain manager, she focused on the amount of fill that would be needed on the Smith Farm to make it viable for houses. The amount of fill she calculated is staggering, and would have needed dump trucks on Raymond Road for months:


My name is Nancy Simpson, and I have signed a speakers card.

I am a Certified Floodplain Manager and Urban and Regional Planner with nearly 10 years of experience. As a floodplain manager, I specialize in riverine and inland flooding.

The applicant has mentioned they over designed SWM and compliance with Floodplain compensation. In my experience, human intervention is NOT sufficient to keep property reasonably safe from flooding. Water is the most destructive natural force on the planet. Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey are perfect examples of how flood structures should not be relied upon for flood protection. More recently and locally, the dike breech during Debby shows us that properties that were protected by human intervention are still vulnerable.

The National Flood Insurance Program strives to ensure "No Adverse Impact" to adjacent properties and to development is reasonably safe from flooding.
While this project is technically an infill project, this area is the suburbs, or could be considered a transition zone to rural (exurbs). 

Usually infill refers to urban environments. The majority of the subject property is within the special flood hazard area. As can be seen in this image, there are areas of the property that have an approximate 12’ elevation. The Base Flood Elevation is 19.8', and there is 1' of freeboard to meet minimum requirements. 


Elevations around the proposed detention pond at Smith Farm 


To ensure that a residence is reasonably safe from flooding the lowest floor would need to be 21’. In the NE corner ~6-8’ of fill would need to be brought in to meet the minimum standards. For a 2000 SF slab, 8' elevation will require 16,000 CY of fill.

The surrounding contextual area of Smith Farm


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