Organizers are hoping Cobleskill, Richmondville, and Seward landowners along the Cobleskill and West Creeks will bring their questions and concerns over proposed flood map changes to an open house next Thursday at SUNY Cobleskill.
The February session is set for 6:30pm at the Curtis-Mott Lounge on the agricultural side of campus. It is not a public hearing.
Representatives from Bergmann Associates, the firm that did the mapping, and DEC will be on hand to answer questions; there will also information and photos on past floods.
The flood insurance rate maps (FIRMs) are in the process of being updated, explained Schoharie County Senior Planner Shane Nickle.
The open house will be a chance for the about 150 affected property owners to review and learn more about the exact changes, Mr. Nickle said.
If the weather’s bad, the open house will be held Thursday, February 25, same time and place.
Anyone with questions can contact Schoharie County Planning at 234-3751.
For most of the affected properties, Mr. Nickle said, the changes are relatively minor with often, some land taken out of the flood plain and some put back in.
The digitalized maps also show 100-year flood elevation changes—all relevant because the FIRMs are used to determine flood insurance rates.
There’s a 90-day deadline for appealing the maps, but Mr. Nickle pointed out any objections must be made on the grounds that the information is scientifically or technically incorrect.
In 2004 all of the county’s flood maps were redone, something that raised concerns in Gallupville when residents realized after the fact that theirs along Fox Creek were incorrect.
Those maps have since been amended, but it’s a cumbersome process and Mr. Nickle said this time they’re trying to keep that from happening.
The Cobleskill and West Creek maps are areas of higher population and development pressure, he said, the reason for the more detailed, digitalized FIRMs under review now.
Only a few of the proposed changes impact buildings, he said, and most of those are barns.
One exception is the lumber yard in Richmondville, which has been moved entirely into the flood plain.
“From the ones I looked at, I saw probably 15 properties where it looked like there would be a substantial impact,” Mr. Nickle said.
Landowners in flood plains with mortgages are required by FEMA to have flood insurance.
There may also be building requirements for new construction or substantial improvements.
Those no longer in the flood plains, however, will no longer have to deal with those restrictions.
Most of the changes come in Richmondville, where there are 52 in the town and 10 or 12 in the village.
The maps show 52 changes in Seward and just two in Cobleskill, one in the village and one in the town.
The three towns involved will be asked to approve the maps in June or July.
Overall, Mr. Nickle said, the maps show the West Creek flood plain shrinking and the Cobleskill Creek’s expanding, mostly in the Warnerville to Richmondville corridor.
It’s important, both Mr. Nickle and County Emergency Management Director Judy Warner pointed out, not to rely on memory when trying to determine where it’s likely to flood.
“These maps are for an extreme case scenario,” Mr. Nickle said. “They’re modeling for extreme events.”
Pete Nichols, the county’s stream manager, saw firsthand the damage done in Delaware County with back-to-back flooding there in 2006 and ’07.
“Those were two 100-year floods,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it will take another 100 years.”
The meeting on the 11th will be informal with a chance for anyone with questions to meet one-on-one with Bergmann and DEC representatives.
Mr. Nickle is also collecting photos of “historic” floods to display at the meeting.
Anyone with any to loan can contact him at 234-3751.