
Neosho County GIS / Floodplain
The Neosho County GIS office is responsible for maintaining parcel data and agriculture land use data. We also provide assistance to the public, cities and county entities.
What is GIS? Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a set of tools for the collection and maintenance of databases and their spatial position. These tools are capable of creating maps and figures to display a multitude of data and the geographic position of that data within a particular area. Point, line, and polygon features are represented with associated attributes as layers within GIS. These layers can then be visually manipulated to draw illustrative and statistical conclusions. GIS can create maps for landowners, geographically represent sales data, illustrate and manage parcel boundaries, and calculate statistics as it relates to the geographic scope of a project. But the true scope of GIS is only limited by the needs and purposes of the user or requestor.
Neosho County is a participating Community in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This program allows area residents to purchase affordable flood insurance.
The Community's floodplain management regulations, limit development allowed in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) (the area inundated by a storm that has a 1% chance of flooding in any year). The regulations specify that all new buildings to be constructed in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) (regulated floodplains) are required to have their lowest floor elevated one foot above the base flood elevation (BFE). The regulations also specify that substantial improvement of existing buildings or buildings that have sustained substantial damage must be brought into compliance with the requirements for new constructions in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs).
A Floodplain Development permit is required from the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Water Resources (DWR) AND the Neosho County Floodplain Management office, prior to ANY development.
Development - as defined by FEMA:
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, levees and levee systems, land clearing (i.e. tree removal), mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations or storage of equipment and materials.
Failing to comply with floodplain management regulations can put Neosho County in jeopardy of losing flood insurance, disaster assistance and Federal backed loans and grants for our citizens.
The State of Kansas statutes and regulations charge Water Structures in the Division of Water Resources to administer a permit program. Therefore, before planning or starting construction of or change to a water structure, determine whether your project needs a permit.