The Federal Emergency Management Agency is taking comments from municipalities in Butler County on its proposed flood plain maps for the county.

The maps are being updated for the first time in 30 years through the use of satellite mapping technology and engineering studies.

The public comment period lasts until Nov. 8.

However, the agency only is accepting comments from municipalities, so residents must submit comments to their local officials, who will then decide whether to submit a “challenge” to the maps.

The Special Flood Hazard Areas marked on the maps are areas where there is a 1 percent or greater chance of a flood occurring in any year, according to FEMA.

Residents in those areas qualify for the National Flood Insurance Program by FEMA. The hazard areas also require flood plain ordinances that each municipality must pass that give guidelines for development.

Houses that have a mortgage are required to have the insurance under federal law. For others, it is optional.

Changes to the maps of flood plain areas could add or remove properties from those requirements.

To view the maps, visit rampp-team.com/pa.htm, and scroll down to Butler County.

County planning director Dave Johnston said the new maps are a big improvement over the old ones because they are more detailed. The new maps show property divisions and have more specific elevations.

The process of getting the maps approved has been going on for more than three years and it is unclear when the maps will go into effect, Johnson said.

“We’re still waiting for FEMA to make a decision on when those maps will be final, so we’re in a holding pattern,” he said.

The county uses the maps when planning for development and infrastructure improvements and considering how different watersheds will be affected by projects, he said.

Harmony, which was badly hit by flooding after Hurricane Ivan in 2004, will have a public meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 to compile public comments for a report it will send to FEMA.

Council President Jim Hulings said the borough will submit comments on both the areas covered and issues such as mislabeled streets.

“This is the opportunity for people who think there is a scientific reason to challenge FEMA. They have 90 days to do it,” Hulings said.

Harmony also has print-outs of the maps and flyers that explain how to view them online at the borough office.

Evans City Council President Lee Dyer said the borough has sent the maps to its solicitor and its emergency management team for review. If they find that the flood plain area has shrunk or there are other issues, the borough will send comments, he said.

Evans City has installed catch basins and improved drainage to help limit damage caused by stormwater runoff if a storm like Ivan were to happen again.

“The council has worked extremely hard in the past three to four years to improve the flow of water in the town,” Dyer said.

Cranberry Township supervisors discussed the new maps in April, when engineer Tim Schutzman told them that the new maps would shrink the flood area, taking about 200 homes out of those danger areas.

The proposed update to the maps is not the only recent change to federal flood plain regulations.

On March 21, President Barack Obama signed the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, which aims to make flood insurance more affordable by putting caps on premiums and giving homeowners grandfathered rates if they are added to flood zones as a result of remapping.

Center Township supervisors discussed the flood plains at its meeting Wednesday night. Township engineer Ron Olsen said the regulations in the protest and appeals process will probably result in few or no people following through in the township.

“They have to include technical analysis in the appeal,” he said, adding certain surveys or studies likely would need to be done as evidence. “I think it’s a little far-fetched to believe people will spend the money required to protest it.”

Olsen said FEMA used laser technology from airplanes to map the flood plain, as opposed to the traditional land survey. He said many of the plains will likely shrink as a result of the updated maps.