Building a RV Park in a 100 Year Floodplain

I own some property in Washington State that is in a 100 year floodplain. It is right outside a city with a high amount of RV traffic that would benefit from an additional RV park.

Although we are classified as being in a 100 year floodplain, the city constructed a dike two decades ago that has mitigated the flood risk. No property in the floodplain has flooded since. As the dike was not built by the army core of engineers, it never became a FEMA approved dike, hence our floodplain status.

I am not concerned about the risk associated with building in the floodplain due to the dike, but am having issues with the local county in terms of obtaining permits. The major issue seems to be utility service (particularly electrical). As the portion of property I would like to build on is 10 feet below the 100 year flood level, the county wants my utility connections to be elevated 11’ above ground level. This would obviously lead to issues when a customer arrived to hook up to the pedestal.

It is not financially feasible to move enough dirt to elevate the pads. I am wondering if anyone has some advice as to how to circumvent this issue. A referral to someone who specializes in building parks in a floodplain would also be very helpful.

I have thought about elevating an automatic disconnect to remove the concern of electrifying the water if a flood were to occur (it will not). The county does not find this adequate.

Any ideas?

Find another use of the property or sell it Have owned MH and RV park in such a situation and had need for elevation change. The property is now owned by the county and used a as a city park

I think it would be hilarious to see a staircase up to these pedestals. Try to place them back to back so you have one staircase for every two pedestals.

I do not really have a reason to sell the property. It is 60 acres and will be out of the floodplain within a few years. The county has obtained funding and permits to build a new dike. This dike will be built by the army core of engineers and is funded and permitted. Work is slated to begin soon, thus putting my entire property outside of the floodplain.

I am already working with the city on a master plan development and a rezone to meet my needs. The city is confident that we will be out of the floodplain in the stated timeline (I am figuring that I should add a few years to their estimates).

That being said, I do not like the land sitting vacant. I would like to build an RV park on the land in the long term and am aware that many RV parks currently exist in floodplains all over the USA. Assuming I am 5 years away from being outside of the floodplain, I could start permitting and then building an RV park and likely operate for several years before my “floodplain” designation changes. My primary issue as of now that is preventing me from moving forward is understanding how to get utilities to the pads. The parks I have visited that are in floodplains have regular pedestals that are not elevated. I am interested in what it took these parks to obtain permits to build them as I am running into a wall on that issue alone.

How does one accomplish building an RV park in a floodplain from a permitting standpoint? Were all the existing parks in floodplains built prior to the FEMA laws and regulations?