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Cities, county challenge flood plain boundaries
Published 9/30/2008 in News
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
The cities of Garden City and Holcomb and Finney County are protesting maps drawn up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that place more land within their boundaries in a flood plain.
According to Kaleb Kentner, director for the city's Planning and Community Development Department, the entities have until Oct. 23 to submit information to FEMA about the proposed changes to the boundaries. The three entities have been gathering information to challenge the changes.
The appeal information was to be sent Monday, Kentner said.
"We hope they'll make some of those changes...," he said. "It'll be kind of a wait and see."
FEMA's updates
FEMA was in the process of updating its Flood Insurance Rate Maps anyway.
But, Kentner and Tim Hamilton, also with Planning and Community Development, said Garden City and Finney County were put further up in line because of the larger population, as well as the large amount of moisture and runoff that occurred during the winter storm in late 2006 and early 2007.
The last time the area's maps were updated was 1997. While the actual flood plain hasn't changed much, Kentner said, FEMA made some changes to the data it uses to measure the flood plain. The biggest change: Some of the drainage and irrigation ditches are considered bodies of water and now are included in the flood plain.
The agency has never included the ditches before, Kentner said. Before, he said, just the Arkansas River and its tributaries were included. Hamilton said he was told by a state employee that the ditches always "should've been" included.
One ditch that's in the flood plain, according to City Engineer Steve Cottrell, is a storm drainage ditch that runs through the city. Other changes include Pierceville now being entirely located in the flood plain, Kentner said, whereas before, only some lots in the town were included; and Garden City's administrative building, 301 N. Eighth St., is now completely in the flood plain, as well as the fire station, 302 N. Ninth St., and a portion of the Law Enforcement Center, 304 N. Ninth St. The current Garden City High School, 1412 N. Main, also is in the flood plain.
If FEMA's changes to the maps stay, Kentner said, homeowners who find themselves in the flood plain would have the opportunity to purchase flood insurance. Upon sale of those properties, flood insurance would be required, he said.
Kentner said a lot of FEMA's information on the area is based on a study done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shortly after the 1965 flood and completed in 1972. The landscape is considerably different, now, he said, adding there's obviously no water in the river anymore, but the 1972 study still shows there is. Kentner said the water tables were higher then, too, adding it didn't take as much water to flood. He said the study can be conducted again, but it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to redo for each jurisdiction. There's just not the funding to do that, he said.
So that leaves challenging FEMA's changes as the only alternative.
The impact
The last maps were done in 1997. Before that, the last update was in the early '70s, Hamilton said.
So chances are, whatever changes are made will be around for awhile. The flood plain maps are updated, Hamilton said, whenever FEMA feels an area needs to be addressed.
Right now, the ditch through the middle of the city is included in the flood plain under the proposed maps, as well as the majority of everything south of the railroad tracks in Holcomb. There's some industrial, residential and commercial properties, as well as portions of Kansas Avenue included in the flood plain.
Hamilton said the flood plain changes affect about 1,000 additional residential properties and 60 businesses in Garden City. Holcomb has an additional 50 or so residential properties in the flood plain, he said, but it appears no commercial or industrial properties are affected.
Of what Hamilton calls Garden City's "growth area," or land available for development, he estimates roughly a third is in the flood plain. Although, Hamilton said, it's hard to judge because the land is spread out.
Since the flood plain's boundaries are changing, the city's starting to gather and distribute information to the public who "may own property where a structure may be shown to be in the special flood hazard area on the new maps. The changes to the special flood hazard areas shown on the new maps could affect the requirement for flood insurance for a structure on your property."
The entities also are planning a public meeting sometime in October with officials from the state and local agencies regarding residential improvements in the flood plain.
According to the city, the maps are used:
n to assess the flood risk to a particular property.
n to rate flood insurance.
n to determine if proposed improvements to a property are considered "substantial improvement."
n and to determine if damage caused by flooding to a structure is "substantial damage."
Six months of waiting
The time to appeal ends in October, Kentner said.
The final determination of what's included in the flood plain comes at the end of a six-month period, Hamilton said, or about April.
"It's hard to tell what changes they'll make...," Kentner said. "We hope for the best, but we want to plan for the worst."
From then on, it's up to individual landowners, Hamilton said, to file for a letter of map amendment. When the landowner files, he said, a surveyor surveys the property to determine where the base flood elevation is. If FEMA and the surveyor come up with numbers that match, the individual property is removed from the flood plain.
Flood insurance
According to Tamara O'Connor, public affairs supervisor for State Farm Insurance, State Farm and other insurance providers act as vendors for FEMA for flood insurance.
Flood insurance generally is not covered under a homeowner's policy, she said, adding there's flood insurance for both buildings and contents. Each has its own deductible, and there's also limited coverage for debris removal, sandbagging and moving property if there's a threat of flood.
She said an average premium for a flood policy runs about $400 a year.
People often don't purchase flood insurance, though, she said, for various reasons, including the expense and they don't feel they'll need it.
More information on flood insurance is available through FEMA on the Web site for the National Flood Insurance Program at www.fema.gov/business/nfip.
Anyone with questions or who would like to view the flood plain maps can contact Planning and Community Development at 276-1170 to schedule an appointment.
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