In a total reversal from last month's news that the floodgate project around the Schoharie County office complex may not happen due to unexpected increased costs, work on the floodgate project may begin later this month.
FEMA has reworked its figures and has come up with an additional $800,000 that will allow the floodgate project to go forward, county flood recovery coordinator Bill Cherry announced Friday.
In February, Mr. Cherry told county supervisors that the lowest bid for the floodgate project was $3.937 million and when the design and construction management expenses are added in, the total cost is about $4.7 million, according to Mr. Cherry.
At that time FEMA had allocated only $3.9 million for the project.
There is also little hope that FEMA will increase the funding for the project, Mr. Cherry told supervisors at that time.
A request had been made, but there is not a lot of optimism that FEMA will agree to this change and there was a "very real possibility that the floodgate project will not happen after all," he said last month.
In a concerted effort that included several people, FEMA has agreed to increase the hazard mitigation funding for the county office building complex to $6.4 million which will allow for the extra $800,000 needed for the floodgate project, Mr. Cherry said Friday.
The extra aid was possible through the efforts of Governor Cuomo, the New York Division of Homeland Security, Andrew Feeney and Chris Holmes, and Ron Simmons of Simmons Recovery Consultants.
"Our team got FEMA to add those additional funds," Mr. Cherry added.
Instead of being a negative report, Mr. Cherry can tell supervisors this week that the project can go forward. If they approve construction bids Friday, construction could begin as soon as later this month with tree cutting and clearing of the land around the county building and courthouse.
"This floodgate project is going to go in to protect the county office building and courthouse."
Work may not be done by the end of the year. It will take about eight to 12 months to complete, according to Mr. Cherry.
County and court offices will be open during the construction and no offices will need to be relocated, he added. There will be some minor inconveniences such as entrances that are closed for construction and relocated parking in the late summer and fall.
The floodgate project, Mr. Cherry noted, is a sort of an "engineering marvel."
There will be historic-looking stone walls surrounding the complex, he continued. Those walls will actually be the top of a 32-foot deep curtail that will protect the county offices and courthouse from underground water.
To complete the flood protection system, flood walls near the entrances to the buildings would rise in case of high water.
As part of the floodgate plan, the courtyard in front of the county office building would be reworked.
FEMA agreed to build floodgates that would rise to the 100-year flood level plus two feet, according to Mr. Cherry. This would protect the county offices from a more moderate flood, about two feet of water on Main Street, but not five feet as in the case of Hurricane Irene.
"Schoharie County's request for an amendment will result in hazard mitigation that will protect the county office complex from future flood events," FEMA's Christopher Hartnett wrote last Tuesday.
"I therefore find the request to be reasonable and concur with the request to amend the scope of work to include hazard mitigation...to increase total funding by $800,000."
The county has already benefited from about $1.5 million in flood protection upgrades from FEMA, Mr. Cherry noted.
The funding has paid to move the county's boilers and generators to higher ground and to strengthen walls and install floodproof glass in several county offices.