La Crosse committee OKs floodplain relief

Aug. 2--An effort to allow La Crosse residents to get some help filling basements as part of the city's floodplain relief program moved forward Thursday, but not without some council members questioning whether the move was the best way to help people burdened by high flood insurance.

The La Crosse Finance and Personnel Committee approved a resolution that would offer qualifying applicants a 90% reimbursement up to $20,000 for projects that would fill up basements to prevent groundwater from seeping in; however, council member Barb Janssen abstained from voting, saying she had more questions on the program that she hoped would be answered by next week's Common Council meeting.

"I do think we need to take some action to help these residents on the North Side, particularly with this high groundwater level, but as it's come to our attention, one gentleman has an estimate of almost $50,000 to fill his basement, and I have to wonder if maybe we need to do a little more research before we move forward with this action," Janssen said.

Council member Andrea Richmond, who chairs the city's Floodplain Advisory Committee, urged the finance committee to approve the resolution.

"When you've had the flooding that we've had because of the high water and basements caving in, I think it's more than justified," Richmond said.

Richmond said she has constituents who want their basements filled because the walls are cracking and caving in due to the water.

"It's not just about filling the basement, it's about moving the appliances that you have in the basements up. I think it's warranted, and if we need to down the road, we can always make some changes for cost," Richmond said.

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She noted that the planning department has put together an application process for people to get approval.

Council member Phillip Ostrem, who also serves on the Board of Public Works, added that the board has dealt with many issues this past year caused by excess groundwater forcing people to pump water continually out of their basements.

"I'm happy to see we're making some effort at this point in time to come up with a solution to this problem," Ostrem said.

Janssen agreed, saying that it was a quality-of-life issue for La Crosse residents.

"I'm not against spending money with this grant program. I'm just wondering if maybe there is a better way to do that. When we're dealing with these FEMA rules, it is a complicated matter," Janssen said.

The committee also approved hiring Short Elliott Henderson LLC to study the rainfall and floodplain on La Crosse's South Side -- taking another step toward getting 52 houses near Ebner Coulee out of the floodplain.

The study -- which will cost $150,000 -- will take data of actual water flowage rates collected during the significant rainfall events in 2007, 2008 and 2017 and use that to create a regression equation to predict what would happen during a 100-year flood event, or flooding that has a 1% chance of happening.

The area is a ravine and serves as a stormwater run-off for the bluffs, but the actual water runoff and the FEMA estimates based on the best available data at the time the maps were made don't match up, city representatives say.

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Jourdan Vian can be reached at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @Jourdan_LCT.

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