flood insurance

For as much detail as there’s been for newly configured flood maps in the city of Batavia, there are still unknowns that city officials want to get their hands on, City Manager Rachael Tabelski says.

One key detail is the list of structures being added to the 100-year floodplain. Out of the total 147 structures, “60 are potentially commercial,” which could have a huge impact on the city’s economic growth, Tabelski said during an interview with The Batavian.

She wanted to first define the difference between the city experiencing more frequent flash floods and more severe overflowing creek floods.

“Sometimes we have severe flash flooding that occurs where our storm system can't drain the water away quick enough, but then it goes down really quickly, totally separate from when the creek actually floods and goes above the banks of the creek,” Tabelski said. “And I'm just looking up some of the dates of the last flood. Since I've been manager, we have not had any creek flooding. So that's since I've been with the city, that's at least five years. 

“And the maps were set in the 80s, and they were, I'll call them paper maps,” she said. “As a way they're doing it now, is with LiDAR, and that's electronic, and it takes a lot of measurements of cross sections of the creek every 1,000 feet. And then what their model does is try to predict where the water will move throughout the city, if it does press over the banks of the creek, and then that becomes your flood zone in the city.”

FEMA established a new floodplain map using the new technology and asked for feedback with a 30-day public comment period. Preliminary maps will be issued, and homeowners who would be affected will be invited to a presentation early next year to learn more and have the option to challenge the findings if they have been inserted into the flood plain. 

“We also had our engineers get the baseline data from FEMA and make sure how their modeling was scientifically standard, which they agreed, but they had one finding that they believed that the floodway was too expansive and that they were asking in this draft round of proposals to reduce the floodway,” City Fire Chief Josh Graham said. “So the floodway is once you cross the banks of the waterway, that immediate area that will be flooded, I guess, that's the best way I can explain it. It's the area where the water flows in a flood. So this is what they have for the updated maps.”

So, what does this updated map signify to the city? 
“In terms of development in the city, it's much more difficult to get a building permit in a floodway than it is just in a flood zone, so it would hinder development efforts of any of the properties in the floodway, and that could be properties the city owns; commercial properties or residential for structures such as sheds, barns, things of that nature,” Tabelski said. “So the larger the floodway is, the more properties will have difficulty developing in any way, is one way I like to look at it from an economic development standpoint.”

When a property owner wants to get a permit for home renovations and lives in a flood zone,  they would have to fill out a separate Department of Environmental Conservation permit application, she said. And there are other restrictions for commercial buildings that aren’t compliant or don’t have flood insurance — they can only invest 49% of their building’s value, either by an independent appraisal or their assessed value, she said. 

“So I find this a critical issue for our businesses on Route 63 and our buildings. I mean, on Route 63, who the majority of them are in the flood zone, and when they want to make investments, they can be hindered by higher costs to become flood compliant, to be insured or to only invest up to 49% of their appraised value of their building,” she said. “And we've seen that a lot on the economic development side successfully. It has been done by Stephen Valle and his sister Carrie, with the building on the corner that houses the vegan bakery and apartments upstairs, so they were able to get an appraisal and invest in the building after that appraisal, but they are in a flood zone.”

For homeowners and renters, being added to the flood zone signals the push for buying flood insurance to ensure coverage in the event of damage from a flood, since regular insurance doesn’t usually cover that type of damage; and it serves as caution for when people are considering a construction project, since the city has an ordinance covering development in the floodplain or flood hazard area. 

Other challenges exist for commercial property owners, such as the inability to invest more than 49% of the property’s assessed value. So, for 60 additional commercial properties, that’s a potential problem, she said.

Properties that are and were in the 500-year flood plain did not have to buy flood insurance, and while those 147 structures are moving into the 100-year flood plain, another 282 are being removed since the map has been recalculated.

“Under the new draft, there’ll be 917, so we end up losing 135 structures,” Graham said. “At the end of the day, there’s going to be 135 less structures in the flood zones than there are right now, 282 that will no longer be identified, but 147 new ones that will be.”

How did that happen?
An electronic survey was done using LiDAR technology, a remote sensing method that uses light to measure ranges and map out the flood zone every 1,000 feet, predicting where water will move within the city, he said. That reconfigured the original number of 1,052 people and reduced the total to 917 by shifting—and reducing the footprint—of the overall floodway. 

The flood zone is predominantly on the south side, with the largest flooding happening on Law and Walnut streets in recent years. If you live on the South Side, you may be, or want to become, familiar with a few common acronyms that might come in handy when dealing with flood zones and flood plains:

Property owners can challenge a finding by paying for a survey to determine if they live on a higher elevation than previously established. This is called a LOMA — a letter of map amendment — and the process will involve the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Does that mean they will no longer need flood insurance if they were required to have it while classified in a flood zone?
“If your property is no longer in a flood zone, you can drop insurance with proper documentation from FEMA,” Tabelski said.  “So there is a process that those properties will have to take. And that’s why, when we have FEMA host these preliminary meetings, we’ll be inviting anyone in the areas of the flood zone area, the new ones that are coming in will have to be educated now that they’re in a flood zone, and they can … go through that process, and when the  property sells, it is my understanding if you have a mortgage on it, you’re going to need that flood insurance.”

They want city property owners to know that not only will FEMA be on hand during a meeting in early 2025 to work with folks and answer questions, but city officials also want to help out.

“Nothing's final, but there are changes coming,” Tabelski said. “You'll be getting some hands-on assistance early next year straight from FEMA, absolutely, and we'll do our best to interpret it and be the go-between and be as informed as we can to help residents.”

Batavia Development Corporation, which established the real estate company Creek Side Batavia, LLC, has put the sale of the property behind the McCarthy ice rink and along Tonawanda Creek on hold due to this change of floodway.