RECOVERING TOGETHER [Central Penn Business Journal (PA)]

REGION

Municipalities assist businesses in rebuilding after midstate floods

During and after the recent midstate floods, municipalities throughout the region worked with businesses to clean out and rebuild.

Townships and boroughs processed permit paperwork and fees, assisted in completing electrical inspections and provided trash bins. Some municipalities were more helpful than others, business owners said.

In Ephrata, Lancaster County, the Borough Council agreed to waive all borough fees for building permits, said zoning and codes administrator Nancy Harris. Property owners still owed any out-of-pocket expenses, such as for a third-party electrical inspection, but it reduced fees from the $300-$400 range to about $60, she said.

"The permitting process is different in the floodplain," Harris said. "Things you wouldn't normally need a permit for, you do need a permit for."

Immediately after the floods, the borough also placed trash bins on the street for businesses and residents, she said.

The few businesses affected in Ephrata were up and running again within a few days of the flood waters receding, Harris said.

In Harrisburg, the zoning department created a team of inspectors to assist homeowners and businesses in assessing the damage and safely turning the power back on, assistant codes administrator Arden Emerick said.

The zoning department partnered with crews from PPL Corp., UgI Corp. and electrical inspectors from the city. Beginning the Saturday after the major rains, the teams assessed residential and commercial properties from the city line on Front Street south to Reily Street, he said.

"Any electrical equipment that had gone under water, we red-tagged and called in master electricians," Emerick said.

He set up a system by which owners would call him directly after approval from a master electrician and he'd authorize PPL to turn the electricity back on, he said.

The city also showed a lot of latitude for businesses and residents to remove anything wet from properties before acquiring a permit to build, Emerick said.

In Derry Township, Dauphin County, a team of electricians from the township and third parties worked Saturday and Sunday after the storm to inspect buildings in the area, said Chuck Emerick, acting director of community development.

The township worked quickly to get demolition permits for some of the more intensely damaged properties such as the Penn Hotel and Sports Bar, he said.

In Manheim, Lancaster County, zoning and code compliance officer Mike Tuscan and a commercial inspector spent 14 days straight after the flooding inspecting homes and businesses, Tuscan said.

If there was no structural damage to a commercial-use building, the borough temporarily waived the requirement to submit engineering documents outlining renovations, he said.

"We wanted companies to get back in and operate their businesses as soon as possible," Tuscan said.

For businesses with structural damage, the municipality tried to expedite paperwork and permit requirements, he said.

In some areas, the floodplain was not clearly defined prior to the heavy rains this year. In Cornwall, Lebanon County, rebuilding is allowed only in flood fringes, not the main floodplain, said building and zoning administrator Song Kim.

However, there are no designated flood fringes mapped, he said. Surveys need to be done before building permits can be issued, he said.

BrentMore Construction Inc. in Lancaster had trouble helping a client figure out how to rebuild his home, co-owner and President Dan Neffsaid.

The home needed an engineering survey done to determine where it was in the floodplain. No one seemed to know whose responsibility it was to do the survey, so the burden fell on the homeowner, Neffsaid.

The municipality requested survey paperwork as well as insurance forms to issue a permit, but didn't provide any standard forms, which can hinder the process later if information is missing that the company didn't know it needed, Neffsaid.

In Swatara Township, Dauphin County, the municipality chose not to waive any fees for permits or inspections, administrator Paul Cornell said.

"We did the work; if we waived the fees then the taxpayers would end up paying for the work," he said.

The township wasn't as communicative as it's been in the past, Ingear Cycling & Fitness co-owner and business manager Sharyn Kocevar said.

When Hurricane Ivan came through in 2004, the township told businesses in advance to evacuate and they were able to clear out the first floor of all items, she said. There was no warning from the township this time, she said.

Kocevar said she also asked the township for trash bins for the mounds of trash it had to dispose of, and it was about a week before two bins appeared for the business and the entire neighborhood around it.

Eventually, the municipality sent dump trucks, and it took 10 of them to dispose of Ingear's trash, she said.

Officials from Marietta in Lancaster County hardly interacted with local business The Railroad House Inn, said co-owner Tracy Beam.

Before the flooding began, an emergency management team came to warn the owners the gas and electric would be turned offat a certain time, she said. During and since the flood, borough officials have not checked in with the business or asked what help was needed, she said.

"Marietta's volunteer fire department came and helped pump out our basement," she said, and nearby residents and business owners supported each other as they cleaned everything out.

Beam said she noticed a lot of oil was being pumped into the river from basements with oil heaters that had leaked, she said. She suggested to the Borough Council that a remediation plan be put in place for such a situation and found the council is not immediately enacting a floodcontrol plan, she said.

"It was disheartening to me," Beam said.

Marietta has been working on a flood mitigation project for more than 15 years and hopes to begin installing phase one of the plan as early as 2014, council President Miriam Fletcher said.

The municipality also did an extra trash pickup the week after the flood at no charge, she said.

On Sept. 13, debris lined a street in the Harrisburg neighborhood of Shipoke in the aftermath of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Lee. In Harrisburg, the zoning department created a team of inspectors to assist homeowners and businesses in assessing damage and safely turning power back on, assistant codes administrator Arden Emerick said.

"We wanted companies to get back in and operate their businesses as soon as possible."

Michael Tuscan, zoning and code compliance officer with Manheim borough

By Holly White

hollyw@journalpub.com