Published: December 04, 2008 12:05 am      

WHEATFIELD: Federal officials outline flood zone changes

DEC official said process is still in its early stages

With winter on its way, local creeks and rivers are beginning to freeze over, but Wheatfield residents can’t help but worry about the costs of flooding. New area flood plain maps produced by the federal government could require large swathes of the town to purchase mandatory flood insurance — and residents want to know why.

Officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal government met with local representatives on Wednesday to explain the implications of the impending flood zone change. Representatives of the DEC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were on hand to outline the process of approving and implementing new flood zones.

“We’re at the beginning stages of releasing and reviewing the new floodplain maps,” said William Nechamen, chief of the floodplain management section at the DEC. “We’re still in an appeals period, so the current maps are not final.”

In Wheatfield, an estimated 1,000 homes and businesses would fall within the boundaries of the new floodplain designations. With expanding floodplain borders comes the possibility of hiked total insurance costs, with federal regulations requiring affected homes to purchase flood insurance to maintain their mortgages.

The upper limit of the new policy costs could reach over $1,000, though those four-figure costs would only be applied to homes that were built before 1968, when floodplain regulations were first created.

Newer homes with more in-built flood protection will experience lower costs. According to DEC data, the average annual cost for a flood policy in Niagara County is $668.

Wheatfield has seen about 100 flood claims in the 30 years since such claims have been logged.

“In Wheatfield, there hasn’t been a bad flood in a very long time,” Nechamen said. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

To reduce insurance premiums, FEMA offers a program called the Community Rating System, which can cut payments from 5 to 45 percent. FEMA determines the size of community discounts by rating the extent to which the community has promoted actions that intend to reduce flood loss risks, and increase flood insurance awareness locally.

Both agencies are quick to stress that the process of implementing these changes is still in the early stages, with the official appeals period opening after a to-be-announced date in early January. Public notices will be placed in local newspapers that will outline the proposed floodplain boundaries.

A 90-day appeals period will follow.

“Residents can offer appeals that challenge the science behind the studies that determined the floodplains, or protests that challenge elevation or topographical discrepancies,” Nechamen said.

“After an appeal, the 90-day clock will temporarily stop.”

Appeals and their supporting evidence can be forwarded to the Region-II FEMA office.

After April, when all appeals have been resolved, local municipalities affected by the finalized floodplain maps have six months to pass DEC-endorsed codes that govern development within flood zones to ensure that future development does not expand the existing floodplain.

“We expect this to have a net environmental benefit to the area,” said Rebecca Anderson, regional coordinator at the local DEC office in Buffalo. “But the DEC can’t comment about the potential economic impacts of new development guidelines.”