by Laura Freeman
Reporter
Hudson -- Approximately 600 to 650 property owners in the low lying areas of the three watersheds have until spring 2009 to purchase flood insurance before their rates could go up.
The city sent letters to nearly 600 property owners Sept. 5 to inform them that new flood zone maps by the Federal Emergency Management Agency include a portion or all of the property in the flood zone, Community Development Director Tom King said.
The letter recommends property owners contact their mortgage lenders or insurance companies to find out about purchasing flood insurance, City Manager Anthony Bales said.
"For a vast number of property owners, it won't change requirements because they have no structure in the flood plain and some were already in the designated flood plain," Bales said.
Not all of the property owners notified have structures in the flood zone, King said.
"We thought it was important to notify all the property owners even if their structure was not near the flood area because those properties will be flagged in the future as being in a flood area, and homeowners should be aware of that," he said.
The designation has upset some of the impacted residents, who say the flood zone designation will require mortgaged properties to carry national flood insurance at additional cost and could cause home values to decrease.
Towbridge resident Glenn Shortman said no one brought up the flood plain issue when he added onto his home two years ago, and the new flood zone was "another way for the federal government to take money out of my pocket."
He recommended Mud Brook be dredged so there wouldn't be a flooding issue.
Most lenders will require flood insurance if the home is in flood zone, said Mary Brennan, manager at Howard Hanna. If a house is paid off, the homeowner isn't required to have flood insurance but it's advisable to do so, she added.
King said residents can look on the city Web site www.hudson.oh.us and, using the GIS map of the property, look at layer "FEMA proposed floodplain" to find the proposed flood zones.
"They can determine whether a structure is affected," King said.
King said residents have two options if property is in the flood zone.
Before spring 2009, when the maps will be finalized, residents can purchase flood insurance at the current rate.
"As long as the policy is maintained, the pre-flood zone rates are maintained," King said.
Mortgage lenders will not provide a mortgage for property in a flood zone if it does not have flood insurance, King said.
The second option is, after the maps are finalized, if the property owner can prove the flood area is not near a structure, they can file an application with FEMA for a letter of "map amendment" that could change the boundaries of the flood zone.
Contact information was provided in the letter sent to residents, King said.
A homeowner on Towbridge whose house is completely included in the floodplain said she received a letter from the city, but no one contacted her, and she did not know her home was in the floodplain. She said the house did not flood during the 2003 flood and did not know why it was included now.
When FEMA makes the maps official, the Land Development Code would automatically amend the codes and impose building restrictions, King said.
"Once the FEMA map is finalized, the city cannot issue permits for new or substantial improvements, greater than 50 percent of the value of the structure, to occupied structures 1.5 feet above the designated flood elevation or lower," King said.
King said properties are located in the three water sheds, Tinker Creek, Brandywine Creek and Mud Brook with the majority in southwest Hudson, the location of Mud Brook.
The new maps go into effect in 2009 and place the properties in a "special flood hazard area" of a 100-year storm floodplain.
The city will not appeal FEMA's designations, King said, because a city-funded study reached the same conclusions about flood zones.
"We have no basis to challenge the FEMA determination," King said.
More information is available at 1-877-336-2627 at www.fema.gov and
www.floodsmart.gov.
E-mail: lfreeman@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3150