St. Joseph County seeks buyout of flood-damaged homes in Jewell Woods neighborhood

South Bend Tribune (IN)

Feb. 28--SOUTH BEND -- Chris Elmerick is among several property owners in the Jewell Woods area who recently received a letter with big news: Their homes, which were damaged by the historic flood here in August 2016, could be bought by St. Joseph County with federal grant money so they can be demolished.

That's because the properties in the neighborhood just south of South Bend are located in a low-elevated area near Phillips Ditch that should have been designated as a hazardous floodplain by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers many years ago, according to the letter from South Bend attorney Charles Rice, who is helping the county gather information for the effort.

The county Board of Commissioners decided on Tuesday to start the process of seeking funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a "voluntary floodplain buyout program" run by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

In the coming months, the county plans to assess flood damage of properties to determine which ones could be eligible for buyouts. Along with reviewing damages from the August 2016 flood, damages will be assessed from the massive flood event here last week.

The county will need to file its grant application by August. It could take more than a year for funding to be awarded for buying and demolishing homes. The grant would cover 75 percent of the cost and the county would cover the rest.

A buyout would be welcomed by Elmerick, whose home on Jackson Road was destroyed by the August 2016 flood, along with a multi-home estate he took over from his grandparents.

"It's great to see the county is looking at some type of way to reimburse people who had losses," Elmerick said.

Elmerick's properties are among 23 in the Jewell Woods area that are included in a preliminary "buyout area" proposed by the county, according to letter sent by county commissioners to the state homeland security department.

The list includes properties near Phillips Ditch that were determined to be vulnerable to flooding, based on a county-commissioned study of the area's watershed that was completed last year. Properties could be added or removed from the list, however, as the county reviews who is interested in buyouts.

Property owners wouldn't be forced to sell homes, and properties would be bought by the county at their fair market value prior to flood damages. Values would be determined by appraisals.

After buying and demolishing homes, the county would place deed restrictions on properties to prevent future construction.

County Engineer Jessica Clark said the main goal of the effort is to make the Phillips Ditch watershed more resilient so that it can withstand flood events like the one in August 2016.

"The watershed is constrained by the embankment and surrounding land," she said. "Purchasing parcels along the ditch and returning them back to open green space would provide additional storage and capacity."

Clark added that the Jewell Woods neighborhood doesn't need to be designated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a floodplain for the county to be eligible for funding. She said the county's study of the Phillips Ditch watershed demonstrated the area is vulnerable to flooding.

Rice, the attorney, didn't respond to a call or email Wednesday seeking comment.

In his letter to property owners, Rice states that the area should have been designated as a floodplain.

"Historically, this area has had a high water table -- not unlike some of the adjacent areas to the west which have standing water and marsh-land," the letter states. "Clearly, this area should have been designated a flood plain by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in their initial mapping during the last century, but it wasn't."

Because the area wasn't properly designated, Rice states, "development was not only permitted in the Jewell area, but mortgage companies did not require homeowners to purchase flood insurance."

He added that "while it was first thought that the recent construction of U.S. 31 (led) to the flooding," that was "not the primary cause. The problem is that the majority of homes are built in an area which should be labeled a flood plain."

After the August 2016 flood event, area residents threatened to sue the county and Indiana Department of Transportation for negligence, claiming that drainage systems couldn't handle additional runoff from the new U.S. 31. At the time, Rice was the attorney for some of the residents involved in the effort.

The county's study of the Phillips Ditch watershed, however, concluded that the U.S. 31 project was not the cause of flooding in August 2016. In fact, the study found that the new underpass lessened the severity of the deluge upstream of the new road.

Rice continues to represent residents affected by flooding in the Jewell Woods area, Clark said, but he is not being paid by the county for his assistance with the buyout effort.

tbooker@sbtinfo.com

574-235-6070

@Tbooker24

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