5 minute read
eLOMA: A Collaborative Tool for Licensed Professionals, Communities and FEMA
David Mummert, FEMA eLOMA Coordinator
DMUMMERT@MBAKERINTL.COM
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eLOMA is an interactive online MT-1 determination tool, which is available on the Mapping Information Platform (MIP) (www. hazards.fema.gov). This time saving, userfriendly web-based application provides licensed land surveyors and professional engineers (Licensed Professionals or LPs) with a system to submit Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) requests to FEMA. This tool is designed to make a determination based on the information submitted by the LP and allow them to generate a determination from FEMA in a fraction of the time that is required for the standard LOMA process. Approximately 75% of the LOMA applications FEMA receives annually meet the eLOMA criteria and could be submitted using the eLOMA tool. An eLOMA determination document serves the same functions as a standard LOMA determination. The main purpose of eLOMA is to reduce the level of effort to process LOMAs and provide a faster method of generating LOMA determinations. The eLOMA process has significantly reduced the determination time of up to 60 days (standard LOMA processing) when an audit is not required. Even when an audit is required the audit is processed within 5 business days of FEMA receiving all of the required supporting data. The tool has been updated to make the eLOMA process even easier to use. The audit selection criteria have been revised so that fewer eLOMA submittals are selected to be audited. Also, more help links have been added to the eLOMA tool to provide more information about the requirements for the data entry fields. Once an eLOMA LP has demonstrated that they have a comprehensive understanding of the eLOMA application process they can be promoted to eLOMA Super User status. Typically, in order to be promoted to the Super User level an LP has to submit three consecutive eLOMAs that have complete supporting data and that require zero corrections, and they also need to use the eLOMA tool on a regular basis. Once an LP reaches the Super User level their audit frequency is reduced dramatically. Super Users are not subjected to many of the automatic audit triggers that default users are and even when Super Users are audited the turnaround time for those audits is typically shorter than it is for default users. In order to begin using eLOMA, a surveyor or engineer sets up an account through the MIP using individual license certification information. Once the LP is registered on the MIP they can log into eLOMA and start submitting MT-1 applications. For more information on eLOMA, please select the ‘Learn about eLOMA’ link on the MIP homepage. If you have additional questions regarding the eLOMA tool, please contact the FEMA Mapping and Insurance eXchange (FMIX) at 1-877-3362627 or FEMAMapSpecialist@riskmapcds. com.
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Kayla Kelly-Slatten, JD, CFM*
On January 13, 2021, the County of Los Angeles unveiled its long-awaited update to the Los Angeles River Master Plan. The newly envisioned Master Plan aims to collectively guide the management of the entire 51-miles of the LA River over the next 25 years, all while allowing the various local entities along the River flexibility to address the concerns that most affect their communities. Not updated in nearly two decades, the County desperately needed to modernize the LA River Master Plan and include new and ongoing concerns such as climate change, homelessness, and open space accessibility. After four years of literature review, stakeholder engagement, community meetings, watershed studies, and design collaboration, the LA River Master Plan now highlights a pathway forward through a world that cannot change past actions. By acknowledging the history of channelization and the diversity that surrounds the River, the Master Plan seeks to continue the overarching objective of floodplain safety but in a compassionate and inclusive manner that better aligns with community needs. The LA River spans the entire LA County, beginning in Canoga Park and traveling east, then south until it hits the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach. The watershed itself extends farther north into Angeles National Forest and the San Gabriel Mountains, providing hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water per year to Los Angeles County. However, due to the vast amount of water that flows through the LA River annually, the system was dammed and channelized after the devastating 1938 floods. Today, both LA County Flood Control and US Army Corps of Engineers manage various portions of the LA River, serving and protecting the one million people that live within a one mile radius of the River. As with any large group of stakeholders, determining a mechanism to cultivate conversation and embrace diversity cannot fall to an engineered solution. For decades, native tribes have been ignored, minority populations have been disenfranchised, and homelessness has become evermore present. Previous master plans and regional guides rarely recognized any of these groups or addressed their concerns, leading to a deepening mistrust between communities and local governments and a continued ignorance of Angeleno culture. The 2020 LA River Master Plan was crafted with the community in mind, building upon dozens of steering committee meetings, tribal consultations, and stakeholder engagement events. Unlike its predecessors, the new Master Plan embraces
Figure 1 The Los Angeles River in Long Beach, California. Photo taken by the article's author, Kayla Kelly-Slatten.
* Kayla Kelly-Slatten is an environmental floodplain specialist for FEMA. She sat on the LA River Master Plan Steering Committee from 2018-2020. She has her BS in Environmental Sciences from CSU Fresno and a JD from Penn State Law.
