Council members voted 7-0 (Councilmen Hank Barnes and C.A. Massengill were absent) to approve the ordinance on second reading, despite grumblings from several members that federal agencies had mandated the change without much opportunity for local input.
“If we don't pass it, the home owners can't get no flood insurance,” said Councilman Ronnie Carter prior to the vote. Councilman Gary Mills agreed.
“You've got no option as I can see it, because the people living in the flood plain have to have flood insurance,” said Mills, who described his “yes” vote, in favor of the ordinance, as “reluctant.” Councilman Everett “Mamaw” Gilley at first voted “maybe,” with a chuckle, but then changed his vote to “yes.”
The ordinance, which takes effect Friday, Sept. 29, mandates that no structure or land within the city can be extended, converted or structurally altered without compliance and also requires property owners to get a permit from either the mayor or his designee as administrator and the Kentucky Division of Water. While manufactured homes are permitted within the areas of special flood hazard, all new construction and substantial improvements are required to be constructed with materials and utility equipment resistant to flood damage.
In addition, in all areas of special flood hazard, the lowest floor of any residential structure that is constructed or substantially improved must have the lowest floor elevated to or above the base flood elevation or have such floors flood-proofed. Noncompliance can result in penalties as high as $100 or imprisonment of up to 30 days for each day of violation of the ordinance.
Councilman Dewey Morgan spoke at length about the situation, saying that he was in favor of flood insurance requirements, he felt that the federal agencies involved in establishing the expanded flood plain - the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - had not worked well with each other or made the reasons for the expanded flood plain clear to the public.
“At the meeting I attended, the Corps of Engineers and FEMA, who are both supported by taxpayers' money, wouldn't even talk to each other,” Morgan said, adding that he did not feel the map of the newly-defined flood plain - which increases the area of the city previously defined as being in the flood plain by approximately 25 percent - “is a true map.”
Morgan, the owner of Morgan Furniture on Lothbury Avenue, said that Chester Avenue, which is included in the flood plain map, has never been flooded in his memory.
“I've seen it get near my store, but never IN my store,” Morgan said. “It never got in the Majestic Hotel. It never got in Cardwell's. That indicates to me those places are on high ground.”
Morgan, and other council members also said they felt pressured to approve the ordinance quickly.
“I really was under the impression that this was not going to come to a vote before December,” Morgan said.
“I feel like we've been snookered,” he said. “And I feel like we've snookered our public.”
City Flood Plain Coordinator J.C. Meredith on Wednesday explained that the city has been mandated by FEMA to adopt flood plain management measures that meet or exceed the minimum National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulations.
“People have always had the opportunity to buy flood insurance,” Meredith said. “With FEMA wanting to reduce its responsibility for relief funds after a disaster, they're encouraging more people in flood areas to buy flood insurance.”
Meredith said that to achieve this goal, FEMA is forcing mortgage lenders, such as banks, to require property owners to purchase flood insurance if they want to take out a mortgage on property located in a flood plain.
“If you are an FDIC lending institution, then you must sell insurance to lend a mortgage,” Meredith said.
Meredith pointed out that property owners do not have to buy flood insurance from banks or savings and loan institutions. The insurance can be purchased from any licensed insurance agency. Likewise, if a person wants a loan for their property, they do not have to take out a bank mortgage.
“You can borrow money from your ‘Uncle Jim' - note I'm not saying your ‘Uncle Sam',” he said. But if the money comes from an FDIC lender, then the property owner must have flood insurance.
What concerns some city council members and property owners is that under the new 100-year flood plain map - last updated in 1981 - approximately 25 percent more of the city is now labeled as being part of the flood plain. The new area north of Cumberland Avenue near 27th and 28th streets, starting at Ilchester Avenue, and including parts of Worchester, Manchester and Cirencester avenues. Previously, the flood map centered on Cumberland Avenue and much of the city's old downtown area.
Meredith explained that the new flood map is “based on better data today than they had in 1981.”
“The new data was brought about because of modern surveying and improved technology,” Meredith said. “We've always known that (the newly included map section) was a soggy area,” he said. “It primarily runs along drainage culverts we've had in place for 100 years.”
Meredith acknowledged that the city has not experienced serious difficulties with flooding.
“We haven't had a flood since 1988, not really, except for three or four years ago along Cumberland Avenue at 18th Street,” he said. The city has spent millions of dollars on downtown drainage projects, which were completed in September 2001. Prior to that, Meredith said, “When it rained, say, two inches in 24 hours, you could get three feet of water at 18th and Cumberland.”
Meredith said that property owners in the flood plain whose homes are mortgage-free are not required to have flood insurance. But, on the off chance that their uninsured properties are flooded, they would not be eligible for FEMA assistance.
As for FEMA's mandate to the city, Meredith pointed out that city officials did have the option of not passing the flood plain management measures, although there would be penalties if they did not do so. According to an Aug. 29 letter from David L. Maurstad, mitigation division director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to Middlesboro Mayor Ben Hickman, the city had until Sept. 29 to adopt the flood plain management measures to avoid being suspended from the NFIP. If suspended, the city would have become ineligible for flood insurance through the NFIP, new insurance policies could not be sold, and existing policies could not be renewed.
“It would be asinine for us not to have adopted this,” Meredith said.
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