Chapter 4 › I.A Public Facility

What counts as an eligible public facility?

FEMA term

Public facility; improved and maintained natural features

Short answer

A facility that a state, local, tribal or territorial government owns or is legally responsible for maintaining. That includes systems such as water, sewer, power and flood control; buildings; non-federal-aid roads; airports; parks; and smaller assets such as signs, fences, lighting, equipment and vehicles. A natural feature qualifies only where it has been improved and is regularly maintained.

What FEMA requires

In general, the facility must be eligible before the work can be. Some emergency protective measures are the exception (see Chapter 7).
Eligible facility types include systems (flood control, navigation, irrigation, reclamation, public power, sewage, water supply, watershed development); buildings, including sheds, restrooms and outbuildings; non-federal-aid streets, roads, ramps and access roads; public buildings and structures, including educational, recreational and cultural ones; airports and runways; parks, piers, trails, pools, golf courses and ball fields; and other assets such as pumping stations, towers, contents, equipment, vehicles, parking lots, sidewalks, ditches, guard rails and catch basins.
A natural feature is eligible only if it has a designed and constructed improvement, the improvement enhances its function, and you maintain it on a regular schedule. Only the improved section qualifies: if 150 feet of a channel bank is armored and maintained, only those 150 feet are eligible.
Unimproved property (hillsides, forests, natural channel banks) and land used for agriculture are ineligible.
A facility run by a community development district is ineligible if it is not open to, or does not serve, the general public.

Documentation

Records showing you own the facility or are legally responsible for maintaining it. For an improved natural feature, the design or construction records for the improvement and maintenance records showing it was maintained on a regular schedule.

Watch out · Govstar practitioner advice

For improved natural features such as armored channel banks or terraced slopes, FEMA funds only the improved and maintained section. Without a maintenance schedule and records showing it was followed, expect the claim to be denied.

Govstar summarizes FEMA’s Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide in plain language and links to the official text. Govstar is independent and not affiliated with FEMA. This is general guidance, not legal advice.