2025 Zoom Meeting

Elevation Certificates and Letters of Map Amendment

April 14, 2025

9:00 AM - 11:400 PM EST

Registration Fee: $99.00

3 Credit Hours. 

SPEAKER: WENDY LATHROP, PLS, CFM, CFS

The Elevation Certificate plays multiple roles in fulfilling the objectives and purposes of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Regulation, planning, mapping – this form serves these purposes and more. 

We begin with an in-depth review of Elevation Certificates, including finding Base Flood and other Water Surface Elevations from various sources. Recognizing that NFIP maps are not perfect, we then look at how floodplain mapping is amended to reflect more accurate elevation data. This program will pull together regulations and resources – along with warnings of what to watch out for through real life examples -  to improve our Elevation Certificates and our applications for amending NFIP mapping. 

Outline:

·  The importance of water surface elevations in floodplain management regulations

·  Detailed examination of the Elevation Certificate and its proper completion

·  Sources of Base Flood Elevation

·  An overview of how to apply for Letters of Map Amendment

Course objectives:

·  Improve familiarity with and assessment of the various resources for proper completion of the Elevation Certificate

·  Recognize how NFIP definitions affect building diagram choices in completing Elevation Certificates

·  Develop a better understanding of the regulatory backbone affecting the outcome of Map Amendment applications supported by Elevation Certificates

Uncertainty and Error in Boundary Retracement - A Case Study

May 14, 2025

9:00 AM - 11:400 PM EST

Registration Fee: $99.00

3 Credit Hours. 

SPEAKER: GARY KENT

In this program, the participants will be taken through an exceptionally complex boundary retracement that involved just about every type of uncertainty that a surveyor can imagine. Issues that arose included faulty legal descriptions, property occupied that was not in written title to the proper entity, numerous major encroachments, riparian rights, significant potential prescriptive easements, poorly documented subdivision plats, potential adverse possession claims and a dearth of reliable, documented monumentation. All of these conditions contributed to uncertainty and potential error in the boundary determination, and must be documented in the Surveyors Report. In order to do that confidently, thoroughly and in a way that will provide footsteps for future surveyors, a thorough analysis of the state of affairs must be undertaken. In this program, that analysis will be tackled, followed by an in-depth look at how and why each condition contributed to uncertainty and how it all should be explained in a Surveyors Report.