Fairfield to Buy More Flood Prone Homes
this from today's Cincinnati Enquirer
Fairfield to pay $1.7M for 11 flood-prone homes
BY SUE KIESEWETTER ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
FAIRFIELD - The city plans to spend about $1.7 million, mostly from a federal grant, to buy out 11 homeowners living along the flood-prone Pleasant Run Creek.
The buy-outs would be the latest of several flood-control efforts since August 1979 when flash flooding damaged 300 homes and businesses and June 2003, when another flood damaged 100 homes.
The city has spent more than $26 million, mostly in federal grants, on flood control since 1979, inThe new $1.3 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, plus more than $455,000 in city funds, will be used to buy homes along Crystal Drive, Bandelier Court, Carlsbad Court, Cedar Breaks Court and King Arthur Court.
"These homes have been damaged several times,'' said Ben Mann, the city's engineer. "They lie in the (creek's) flood plain."
Bandelier Court resident Jim Chudy says he is interested in moving as long as the offer is fair. "I'm glad that it's happening. I've been through four floods in the past,'' Chudy said of the home he's owned since 1979. "They've been devastating - a lot of work."
Like the other homes, these houses would be torn down and the land left as undeveloped open space. Earlier plans to build a flood wall ended when city leaders learned the federal grants would not allow one, Mann said.
In addition to the big floods of 1979 and 2003, parts of this neighborhood have been flooded several times by smaller storms. Judy Morgan, head of Fairfield Flood Victims and a resident of King Arthur Court, has been flooded seven times since 1979.
She says it will be hard to move because her home is paid for and she likes the street.
"My kids told me I'd be nuts not to leave. The unfortunate thing is this is a very beautiful house,'' Morgan said. "It's easy to walk to downtown, which I do. You don't hear a lot of traffic. It's a nice place to live."
The FEMA grant does not allow the city to force homeowners to sell. All homes must be purchased by March 31, 2010, Mann said.
Letters to homeowners were mailed Tuesday. A meeting will be scheduled next month to further explain the project.cluding more than $3.3 million to buy out 21 homes, mostly along Banker and Crystal Drives.
Fairfield to pay $1.7M for 11 flood-prone homes
BY SUE KIESEWETTER ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
FAIRFIELD - The city plans to spend about $1.7 million, mostly from a federal grant, to buy out 11 homeowners living along the flood-prone Pleasant Run Creek.
The buy-outs would be the latest of several flood-control efforts since August 1979 when flash flooding damaged 300 homes and businesses and June 2003, when another flood damaged 100 homes.
The city has spent more than $26 million, mostly in federal grants, on flood control since 1979, inThe new $1.3 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, plus more than $455,000 in city funds, will be used to buy homes along Crystal Drive, Bandelier Court, Carlsbad Court, Cedar Breaks Court and King Arthur Court.
"These homes have been damaged several times,'' said Ben Mann, the city's engineer. "They lie in the (creek's) flood plain."
Bandelier Court resident Jim Chudy says he is interested in moving as long as the offer is fair. "I'm glad that it's happening. I've been through four floods in the past,'' Chudy said of the home he's owned since 1979. "They've been devastating - a lot of work."
Like the other homes, these houses would be torn down and the land left as undeveloped open space. Earlier plans to build a flood wall ended when city leaders learned the federal grants would not allow one, Mann said.
In addition to the big floods of 1979 and 2003, parts of this neighborhood have been flooded several times by smaller storms. Judy Morgan, head of Fairfield Flood Victims and a resident of King Arthur Court, has been flooded seven times since 1979.
She says it will be hard to move because her home is paid for and she likes the street.
"My kids told me I'd be nuts not to leave. The unfortunate thing is this is a very beautiful house,'' Morgan said. "It's easy to walk to downtown, which I do. You don't hear a lot of traffic. It's a nice place to live."
The FEMA grant does not allow the city to force homeowners to sell. All homes must be purchased by March 31, 2010, Mann said.
Letters to homeowners were mailed Tuesday. A meeting will be scheduled next month to further explain the project.cluding more than $3.3 million to buy out 21 homes, mostly along Banker and Crystal Drives.
posted by Scott @ 10:46 AM
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