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Village Investigates Flood Insurance Registration |
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 25 May 2007 |
When Village of Lansing resident Don Lein learned he couldn't get flood insurance earlier this month, he asked the Village Trustees what could be dome to make residents eligible. Last Monday Trustee John O'Neill reported that he has been following up on the issue, and had some preliminary information to share. "Guess what?" he said. "It's paper work!"
O'Neill says that the Village considered registering with the National Flood Insurance program (NFIP) twenty years ago, but saw no need. "At that time, as far as I can see from the records, they looked at a map that showed that there weren't any critical areas that could be built on anyway," he said. "So the decision was made, well, why bother?"
"There are required areas, anywhere along a body of water, where, for instance, mortgage financiers will require you to have flood insurance," explained Village Attorney David Dubow. "That was probably in the context of identifying areas where we may be in a flood zone. The flood insurance that we are now talking about is more for somebody that is outside a formal flooding area, but might be concerned about heavy rain, or a creek overflow where you would end up having flood damage."
O'Neill said that he had spoken to someone at the NFIP, but was waiting to speak to another representative there who could explain the details of what the Village would have to do to make residents eligible. "From what I understand there is a one page application," he said. "We have to talk about the number of structures and things like that. After that the Village has to come up with an enabling resolution saying that we're going to do whatever the rules of hazardous flood areas involve. That could be moot for us, because we don't build in those areas. That's a two page thing. Then -- this is sort of like getting the camel under the tent -- after we do that there's a 20 page thing. You adopt a local law."
"The real target of the NFIP is the hazard zones where a hundred year flood can actually take away a house and cause considerable damage," O'Neill went on to explain. "I don't think we have anything like that in the Village -- not buildable, anyway. However, we had a resident here at our last meeting who said that he was refused flood insurance because the Village is not a participant in this program."
But Trustee Frank Moore noted that there has been such a flood in Tompkins County within the past 100 years. "Trumansburg has Taughanock Creek going through it, it's just a little creek," he said. "But in 1935 half of downtown Trumansburg was washed away."
"The Town has a significant amount of land along the lake that historically has flooded," Dubow noted. "So they are in a much different position than the Village."
Moore also expressed concerns about Village responsibilities or liabilities if it does register with the program. O'Neill said that as far as he knows there is no obligation beyond the paperwork, but that he is pursuing the details and would be careful of the fine print.
O'Neill said that the NFIP representative he spoke to told him that the Town of Lansing is registered with the program, but that the Village would have to register separately. "NFIP is part of the FEMA behemoth," he said. "Each community, right down to the Village level has to become a participating member of this if they want their residents to be eligible for flood insurance. The NFIP's main target is the really hazardous areas."
He said he would also be following up with Lein to let him know what he has learned so far, and to tell him that he can get flood insurance even though the Village isn't registered, but that there is added cost. He hoped to get more details this week to determine whether the Village will begin the process of becoming registered.
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