After delay, borough adopts updated flood insurance maps

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly this week unanimously approved an ordinance to adopt updated flood insurance rate maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The assembly had previously postponed the legislation amid outcry from the Kenai River Keys Property Owners Association, who said the maps would place nearly all of their homes inside a floodway designation and increase the cost for development, rebuilding and maintenance of their homes.

Frank Turpin, president of the association, told the assembly during their Jan. 21 meeting that he and other Kenai Keys residents think that FEMA's maps reflect a temporary change in the flow of the Killey River into the Kenai River, directly across from Turpin's own home, that isn't expected to permanently alter the risk of flooding in their community.

A large amount of sediment that entered the Kenai River's flood plain from a landslide several years ago reduced the floodplain's capacity, Turpin said, but the sediment is "a temporary condition and is already migrating downstream." He asked the borough to hold off on adopting the maps while his association was in contact with U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Mark Begich III.

Borough Planning Director Robert Ruffner told the assembly at that meeting that he didn't expect any changes to the maps based on his communication with the congressional delegation, also that his understanding of the flood modeling encompassed so great a window of time that it likely didn't include the avulsion of the Killey River that Turpin described. But, he said, the assembly could postpone the ordinance into February to let the association try to get a change.

That change did not manifest, and the assembly moved forward with the ordinance on Tuesday, Feb. 5. A planner from the Donald E. Gilman Kenai River Center told the group that if the map wasn't adopted by a Feb. 28 deadline it would impact federal insurance to the whole borough, federal funding for infrastructure and projects, and other benefits from disasters — even those that aren't floods.

"I thank you for your patience in giving us time to chase this down," Turpin told the assembly this week. "I wish the result were different, but the borough has no choice but now to approve the study. Maintaining eligibility for flood insurance and disaster relief overshadows our need for flood elevations reflective of changing conditions in the Kenai River."

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche told Turpin during the meeting that he hopes to see "an adjustment" in the future, but acknowledged that the borough needs to move forward to maintain insurance coverage.

The ordinance was adopted by unanimous consent of the assembly.

A full recording of the meeting is available at kpb.legistar.com.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.