By STEPHANIE FARLEY

sfarley@gctelegram.com

Engineering and planning staff with the city of Garden City, Finney County and city of Holcomb still are working at gathering information regarding the county's flood plain, hoping to eventually have the chance to protest maps the Federal Emergency Management Agency has drawn up that place more of the area's land and property in the flood plain.

According to Tim Hamilton, with Garden City Planning and Community Development, FEMA has been updating Finney County's flood plain boundaries because of the moisture received in the area in late 2006 and early 2007. Because of that moisture, the county's update was fast tracked, and some areas that weren't in the flood plain before now are.

Hamilton said any property (residential or commercial) owner in a flood plain has to build to FEMA standards, including either elevating a structure to go along with a major renovation, or building with water-resistant materials. And if the owner doesn't carry flood insurance, FEMA won't compensate in the event of a flood, he said.

Kaleb Kentner, director for Planning and Community Development, said representatives from all three entities have been researching and gathering information on the area to turn into FEMA when the entities receive final notice to appeal the changed maps that place more property in the flood plain. The idea, Kentner said, is that the entities will have everything ready when they receive the notice and be able to appeal as quick as possible.

If the maps are left the way they are with FEMA's changes, 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.

"We're ahead of the game right now," Kentner said of getting the information together, so it's ready to submit.

Once the information is submitted, FEMA will review it and then make final changes to the maps. The hope, Kentner said, is that FEMA will take the city's, county's and Holcomb's information into account and remove some of the land and property from the flood plain. He said he hopes the notice to appeal will come from FEMA within the next 30 days.

"It's quite encompassing," Kentner said of the changes to the flood plain, adding that based on the elevation change and information used to determine where the flood plain is, FEMA increased it by about a foot.

That may not sound like a lot, Kentner said, "but one foot can make a substantial difference."

Some of those differences include Pierceville now being entirely located in the flood plain, Kentner said, whereas before, there were some lots in the town located in the flood plain. Garden City's administrative building is now completely in the flood plain, he said, as well as the fire station and a portion of the Law Enforcement Center.

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. The landscape is considerably different, now, Kentner said, adding there's not water in the river anymore. But to redo the plan would run in the millions of dollars, he said, so the cities and county are attempting to change the maps instead.