City looks to move past FEMA foul-up

April 25-- Apr. 25--FREEPORT -- Freeport leaders are looking at ways to move forward with flood-mitigation plans after an error by the state potentially cost the city millions of dollars in federal aid.

Illinois missed the deadline for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Pre-Disaster Mitigation program, which could have awarded the city up to $5.6 million to purchase properties in the Pecatonica River's floodway and relocate homeowners. City officials submitted the grant application on Dec. 17, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency accepted it on Jan. 30.

City Manager Lowell Crow said the city has only received verbal notifications that Illinois is no longer eligible for the funding.

"Here's the interesting thing -- we have never gotten official notification that the grant was ever denied," he said.

The grant would have allowed property owners with flood insurance to receive the assessed value of the property, plus five times the cost of flood insurance. For those without flood insurance, the city would have been able to offer the owner the assessed value of the home and up to an additional $31,000.

Property value assessments would be conducted by an assessor from FEMA. A property's value would be assessed by looking at similar homes in the city that are outside of the floodway.

"This is one of those things that residents had been looking forward to," said Alderman Art Ross, 3rd Ward. "They were very much looking forward to being able to move from the water, and this kind of lets the air out of the balloon.

"To have them say, 'Oh, no, you're not going to get it now,' is very unfortunate."

Looking ahead

One option residents of Freeport's east side may have is to sell their homes at the property's assessed value through a grant offered to the city by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The grant would allow the city to pay for the homes and later receive reimbursement.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't do the buyout and relocation to the point of the pre-disaster grant, but it will allow us to at least purchase the abandoned properties," Crow said.

Currently, the city likely cannot authorize building permits on some homes on the east side, due to the DNR's "50 percent rule." It stipulates that a home in a floodway cannot be repaired if the damages cost more than 50 percent of the home's assessed value.

The only recourse for property owners with homes in violation of the rule is to raise the structure 3.5 feet above the 100-year flood level, which is 16.5 feet. The property must otherwise be demolished.

Crow said city officials do not know how many homes fall under the 50 percent rule, because employees have not conducted damage assessments.

"We didn't inspect the homes," he said. "We inspected the vacant properties, because if we inspect the homes and we find that damage, we have to condemn them."

City leaders are currently trying to find the best way to use $300,000 the city received from the state that was initially intended to help with the city's local match for the FEMA grant. The city will reapply for next year's FEMA grant later this year, Crow said. There were 150 properties already listed for the grant.

"We were planning to reapply anyway because we had $4.5 million worth of grant money, and with the city's match it was $5.6 million," he said. "That still would not have taken care of all the properties because the issue is that the houses and businesses east of the Pecatonica sit in a floodway."

The grant may be the key to Freeport's flood-mitigation plans, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA would have to sign off on any major construction projects.

"They have to approve any berms or levees or retention areas and they said none of them are cost effective because of the sheer size they'd have to be," Crow said. "We're not even eligible for those. The only method is the raising of the properties or demos."

Derrick Mason: 815-232-0133; derrick.mason@journalstandard.com; @derrickhmason

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