Salina, Kan., city officials said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new floodplain map is just plain wrong and they will consider appealing the floodplain maps for the south part of town.
Most of the concern regarding the remapping is the fact 22 percent of Salina property owners could be forced to purchase flood insurance if the house they own falls in the new floodplain mapped by FEMA.
“Nearly 1,200 homes would be put in the floodplain,” city Planning and Zoning Administrator Dean Andrew said at a recent city commission study session. “Between 100 and 500 (of the 1,200) homes that have never been in a floodplain would be included. These are areas I have never seen flood.”
No vote was taken at the Mar. 8 meeting.
Commissioners heard from city staff and from AMEC Earth and Environment, a consulting firm, about errors in the new FEMA floodplain map, which is set to take effect in spring 2011.
“(Areas of) the map are just plain wrong,” said City Engineer Dan Stack. “We are appealing maps in the south part of town.”
Stack said the proposed changes could force development in Salina eastward.
The appeal would address concerns about errors in the elevations of properties.
In the new mapping, 4,000 out of 18,000 parcels of land in Salina would be included in the floodplain. Under the current floodplain map, about 2,800 parcels are in the floodplain.
Andrew said there are 1,800 LOMAs in Salina and perhaps 200 to 300 more LOMAs the city would locate as part of the appeal.
Seven hundred to 1,100 homes to be included in the appeal currently have a Letter of Map Amendment – or LOMA, a letter from FEMA exempting the property owner from having to buy flood insurance – but would lose that designation with the new mapping.
Joe File, a consultant with AMEC, said the firm began studying areas mapped by FEMA and noticed large problems and elevation differences of a foot or more.
“There is inadequate information used to represent the storm sewer system and levee interior drainage structure,” Stack said. “Their methodology did not account for our (water) storage areas.”
File said AMEC found where FEMA had mapped a 12-inch pipe for drainage but the city currently has a 42-inch pipe in the location. That means water in an area is carried away more quickly and doesn’t rise as high.
“The (42-inch) pipe dropped the water level two feet,” File said. “FEMA needs more accurate mapping. We are asking FEMA to remap the area.”
“That would please a fair amount of homeowners,” Commissioner Norman Jennings said.
Stack said the appeal could last six months or longer.
“I believe FEMA will do right by the citizens,” File said.
File said Salina is unique in that it has more LOMAs than anywhere else AMEC has seen in the nation.
“We do work in North Carolina, Kentucky and other places,” File said. “I have asked people throughout the company (about the number of LOMAs). There are some places that are comparable, and by comparable I mean half or a little over half of the number. This number of LOMAs is unprecedented.”
Stack said the city’s current laws regarding construction in floodplains differ from state regulations because the city’s laws were “grandfathered in.”
Current state laws require construction to start at a foot above the flood level, but Salina does not require the additional height.
“We allow construction at the flood level or above,” Stack said. “We are the only community of any size with an at or above regulation.”
While lenders are not supposed to be using the proposed FEMA map when lending money, Andrew said Bank of America is using the maps and requiring flood insurance in areas not yet affected.
Andrew said the city is also handling appeals from Saline County.
“The county has the right to protest on behalf of the citizens,” Andrew said. “They are not doing so and the city is accepting letters from the county. I have a letter from all the way near Assaria.”
Topics Flood
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