A revised flood plain ordinance was adopted by the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen Monday, but officials said the 27-page document has more to do with definitions and legal descriptions than it does changing local flood plain regulations.

“This is not the board arbitrarily choosing to make any amendments that are going to overburden citizens who live in flood zones,” said Mayor Paul Winfield. “This is something that the federal government is offering up — it’s a demand to stay compliant.”

Buildings and Inspections Director Victor Gray-Lewis said much like the last time the city adopted a “wholesale” change to the flood plain ordinance in 2003, the new ordinance simply updates the language of the ordinance, as recommended by federal and state emergency management agencies.

“There’s no huge change in this from the ’03 (ordinance) or the one prior to that,” he said. “There are some clarifications in some of the definitions and a few little legal tweaks that were put in.”

Also Monday, the Warren County Board of Supervisors OK’d a revised flood damage prevention control ordinance, which officials also said was a federal formality with little practical change for residents.

Gray-Lewis said the ordinance revision approved Monday will aid the city in holding onto its grade 7 rating by the National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System. The volunteer rating system, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provides for discounts on flood insurance premiums for citizens by encouraging municipalities to enact flood plain management practices beyond federal requirements.

The city currently “can boast” a class 7 rating, said Gray-Lewis. Participating communities get a 1-9 rating, with class 1 communities getting the highest discount. A class 7 rating results in a 5 to 15 percent savings on premiums, according to the FEMA website.

“By keeping our ordinance current with the national standard, it helps us maintain that grade,” said Gray-Lewis.

Several areas in northern and southern Vicksburg are considered repetitive flood plains. Repeated flooding, federal buyouts of land and stricter flood plain regulation enforcement has led to limited populations in once thriving neighborhoods in the Waltersville and Kings communities north of the city. Slightly farther north and nearer to the river, communities along Long Lake and Chickasaw Roads have also disappeared through the decades.

In southern Vicksburg, most of the properties in the Hamilton Heights subdivision have been purchased through a federal buyout, while many landowners along LeTourneau Road have kept from retreating from the low-lying area by building their homes on stilts or constructing private levees.

The Mississippi River is currently rising toward a forecast crest of 42.5 feet — a half foot below flood stage at Vicksburg — on Thursday. It is expected to have no impact on residences in the city, and limited effects on farmland and roads in the county.