Travis County Commissioners Court
September 9, 2008
Item 1
Number 1 is a public hearing to receive comments on proposed comprehensive revisions to chapter 64 of the Travis County code, regulations for floodplain management and guidelines and procedures for development permits. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote, with Commissioner eckhardt away. Good morning.
>> good morning. Basically, this is a comprehensive update of our floodplain regulations. This is brought on by the new floodplain maps that fema has issued for Travis County, the changes are -- it's more of a comprehensive update of code. The carpet code is almost 40 years -- current code is almost 40 years old, amended 20 times. It's very confusing for homeowners, staff, to read and make sense of. Some of the major changes that we are talking about is -- is areas of unsteady floodplain, we are asking that the court approve a two foot -- in other words somebody would have to elevate two feet above the floodplain rather than the current one.
>>
>> [indiscernible]
>> unstudied floodplains?
>> yeah.
>> we are asking that court allow staff to issue permits for finished floors two feet above the floodplain as opposed to one. That's simply because they are unstudied floodplains. We have received two comments, well, actually one comment. Basically they have asked us to add some storm water stuff in for clearing, which we did, most of the other comments have been in relation to the maps themselves.
>> so as to storm water, exactly what changed?
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> and the definition of development has also been changed to include a provision regarding clearing. But it's to make it clearer to everyone so that -- so that when clearing takes place and alters the floodplain, that people will need to come and get a development permit. And there was a concern raised by the environmental folks at t.n.r., from what I understand.
>> yes, it was an internal comment.
>> so clearing has not been covered in the past?
>> clearing has always been a little bit fuzzy by the regulations in the past. The purpose of the -- of the change was to kind of tighten it up a little bit, make sure that folks understand clearing you do need to put your erosion sedimentation controls down.
>> clearing was fuzzy in the past, but was it covered?
>> it was covered.
>> so we have got a lot of questions about it, I guess to clarify it. Now the language is straightforward so we have made that clear.
>> yes.
>> going back to that first change, did the one foot above the floodplain cause problems for us? Why is two more reasonable and appropriate?
>> margin of error. In the unstudied floodplains, you don't have the technical data so to make sure that people don't flood we ask for the extra foot just to be on the safe side so that there's a margin of error in case the maps aren't clear, which we're dealing with fairly, you know, gross instruments to determine elevation. We thought it would give us extra free board, as it's described, in case there is more flooding than what the maps represented. In the the in the studied floodn you actually have engineering to identify the runoff and level of flooding, you have a high degree of certainty where those types of studies have taken place. Where there have not been those studies done, we would like more of an envelope to determine where that floodplain is. Not as precise as might be implied by the maps.
>> > joe.
>> you know when -- when these new maps come out, the new floodplain maps, one thing that it appears that -- that has taken place is that -- is that one time you may have had residents or -- or dwellings that were in the floodplain. With the revision of what we are doing here with a new maps, those that were in at one time may be out of the floodplain at this time. Those that were out of the floodplain with the new maps may be in at this time. And -- and how do we notify those residents that were -- that were previously -- previously -- how do they respond when they were not in the floodplain at one time, but now with the new map, they are -- they are in it and of course with that -- with that change there appears to -- to have -- to be an opportunity to maybe acquire floodplain insurance, not floodplain insurance, but flood insurance. How does that all work together -- as far as what's happening here. With the new floodplain map and also the -- not responsibility but the things that folks may need to be aware of that insurance may be something that may be -- they'll have to deal with.
>> we have actually notified -- let me have stacy run through the two different notices that the county did.
>> okay, thank you.
>> we received a preliminary floodplain maps in March of 2006. After that the court authorized t.n.r. To send out notification to approximately 15,000 property owners. Who were in this mapped floodplain. It's very difficult for us to do the analysis as to who was in, who was out.
>> who was out, right.
>> so we just notified everybody who had property that -- that touched the floodplain as shown on the preliminary maps. We also wanted to inform folks then that from was -- there was a protest period for these maps, that protest period began in may of '06, ended in September of '06. Field has resolved all of the protests and a final determination to the county in March of this year, that was the letter where they told the county that -- that the new maps were going to be effective on September 26th. Authorized to send out an additional notification to let them -- notification to let them know that the change was now in hand. Federal requirements, fema will only put it in the newspaper, public notice section of the newspaper twice, which they did. In addition there was a notice in the newspaper as well as the website about the proposed provision.
>> both letters stated advise folks to look into their insurance to possibly purchase it before the maps went into effect. They will likely get a better rate.
>> if you receive one of these two letters you may be impacted. But if you do not, chances are you are not impacted.
>> chances are your property is not impacted.
>> these 15,000 residents reside in unincorporated areas.
>> that's correct. The city of Austin sent out their own notification of other cities such as Lakeway, also September out notification. Ours went out to only unincorporated property owners.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> to include all of the Travis County maps on their website.
>> do you you will have to -- have a link by chance to that.
>> yes, we do. We actually have it on our website.
>> linked to our website.
>> yes.
>> those who are concerned can go to our website or the city of Austin website.
>> that's correct.
>> we also have a web address in our letter.
>> those are two changes that we should be aware of. Any others? It's pretty much restructuring of chapter 24 as it was. It got over the years to be kind of a confusing document. It's pretty much a restructuring.
>> judge, I think there are some folks who still have questions about -- about how, you know, it came to be that now it may cover more of their property than it did before. In which case they can still call you to have some of those questions answered as to the why's and wherefores to better understand the new fema maps.
>> absolutely. They can e-mail us at floodplain map info or call us at 512-854-4215.
>> that information is on the back of the letter. Correct?
>> yes, it is.
>> that was mailed out.
>> yes, it is.
>> okay. Great.
>> we are posted for a public hearing today. If you would like to address the court on item no. 1, the floodplain management and guidelines and procedures for development permits, please come forward. And if you would give us your name, we would be happy to get your comments.
>> if you would have a seat there in one of those chairs name first, we would be happy to get your comments.
>> my name is frank devoe, I live out in southeast Travis County off of
>> [indiscernible] road.
>> okay.
>> and that lady was just talking about the different letters that were mailed out. I guess in the preliminary thing I guess my property was not in, the floodplain, proposed area. And then Saturday, I received this letter in the mail dated August the 19th , alerting me about this -- about this -- this meeting here, this is the first time that I've ever been to this Commissioners court. So -- so on
>> [indiscernible] road, I live on the north side, on the south side I own 32 acres. And -- and I got my wife, I don't have the internet. Plus I don't even subscribe to the Austin american newspaper. Unless it's on the tv or something like that, I'm not alerted to any floodplain issues or whatever that may be coming up. But anyway, I never did receive any letters back in -- I think she said it was in March of '06, then 5 through 9 of '06, there was a comment period, then in effect 9-26-08. But I got my wife, she works for the school district. So I asked her to use the internet over there, which is a little illegal. And got her to --
>> we didn't hear that, either.
>> yeah.
>> [laughter]
>> and -- and anyway she ended up I guess getting these fema maps. So I guess fema are the ones that come up with these floodplain areas. You know, I guess it's not Travis County. Am I correct on that part, there?
>> okay.
>> so -- okay. So as a matter of fact this map I asked my wife could she have blown this up any more than what it is. She said no, off the internet. It's kind of hard to read. I don't have a magnifying glass here. This is essentially what I have got right here in the -- the acreage that I'm talking about in particular is this 32 acres right here. Is what that is. I guess that you can't see that either. But -- anyway. Out of this 32-acre tract, looks like I don't know just guessing at this, looks like 12, maybe 14 acres are now in the floodplain. I have lived out there since '73, and there was one time about 15 years back where, you know, you get these thunder heads and get a bunch of rain. I emptied my rain gauge twice. Five inches, last time two inches. I had at least 12 plus inches out that way, this property never flooded like they show on this thing. I can't imagine almost getting a bigger rain. I have had other rains, too, eight inches in maybe a five hour period or something like that. But that big dump of rain happened in two or three hours. It never did flood this property like they are showing here. As a matter of fact the only flooding really happens here, you probably can't see this, but -- but this is fagerquist road, pretty much all of the flow is going in this direction here towards what I guess they consider this floodplain. There's really no, almost no creek per se back there. If it is, I can't even read -- I have been living out there since '73, I don't know the name of that creek if it does have a name to it. Margaret, do you have any idea what the name of that creek is?
>> do you know stacy what that is.
>> not off the top of my head. But I do have larger maps.
>> we will have to --
>> after the public hearing, maybe we can try to clarify your situation. Do you plan to do some sort of development?
>> well, you know, like I was telling Margaret earlier. I have five kids, 32 acres. There's a possibility I'm 60 now, my youngest kid is 25, that I may want to divide that up sometime and give each of them six acre tracts. This eastern most side here one kid could probably only get half of an acre out of six that looks like it's not in the floodplain when in reality hardly -- hardly nub none of this property is in the floodplain. A very small corner, this property is about 700-foot deep, 2500-foot long to give you an idea of what the. In this country corner here, like three culvert that's run across the -- underneath the road. It clips my back part and then it goes into mr. Pennel's place to the east of me. Pretty much goes into sheet flow that's only about an inch high once it gets past there. Even when it rains real, real hard, you know, type of thing. By the way, I don't know who -- about five years ago something like that I scratched the date on the concrete, but the county went in there and put -- there was four, three-foot concrete culverts underneath that road. The county decided to make it look real pretty. So they decided to put only three, three-foot galvanized culverts underneath that road. What happens now is it's amazing mr. Pennel hasn't come down here and complained. But a couple of times since that's happened the rain in this whole area goes to the south pretty much. Entire drainage. And a couple of times it's actually gone over fakerquist road because they ended up putting a restriction there. If they put four three foot. But I notice it's gone over the road to mr. Pennel's place and underneath his mobile home over there. It's amazing that he never sued the county over that. Asked them to redo that. That's a different issue, though. But -- but anyway ...
>> when these fema maps go out, of course they reconfigure the -- the feds reconfigure the floodplain area, is that based on the 100 year flood event or what event do they base that on, the federal government? Is that -- I'm just asking. Is that -- is that normally the norm, this is 100 year floodplain event?
>> the regulatory flood is something known as the 100 year flood.
>> okay. The 100 year flood --
>> in actuality it's the 1% flood.
>> pardon me?
>> it's the one percent flood. The one percent chance of a flood of that magnitude or greater occurring. What the maps are risk maps. If you are in a flood zone, flood zone a, ae or ao, you are at a higher risk. It may be just slightly than somebody that is in a flood zone x. Which is areas outside of the 1%.
>> one percent.
>> okay.
>> so really what you are looking at is risk maps.
>> okay.
>> so if you decide to develop, and you are in the floodplain, there -- you can still develop, it's just that there are other requirements that you have to meet.
>> yes. The floodplain regulations are performance standards for floodplain development. The elevation requirements, we have some requirements for the subdivision of land. They don't prohibit folks from developing in the floodplain, but they just set standards to make sure that the development is safe from flooding and that neighboring properties aren't flooded as a result of the development.
>> okay.
>> if the standards are not met, in Travis County -- then Travis County will not issue a permit. So the construction for development may not legally take place. Fema's hammer over us is that they can prohibit or refuse to offer insurance county-wide. If we don't comply with the standards.
>> exactly.
>> so instead of a handful of residents being impacted it's all of the residents of Travis County. If we are not able to get flood insurance.
>> sounds like bribery to me.
>> [laughter]
>> some of us -- say something else behind closed doors. Any additional comments? I do think it would be good to meet with staff afterwards. Look at a larger map and see if they can provide more information than the smaller map gives you.
>> again. This is the biggest that my wife could end up blowing this up off the internet. Again, I can't really read any of this. The regulations talk about different flood zone types, I guess it is. You know, it must be, a whole bunch of them, like 10 of them or more, kind of looking at this thing here. I don't know what kind of flood zone type this is. One of the things that's -- that's kind of bad news here is that -- is that on it costs you one heck of a lot more to and up develop -- to end up developing the land in the floodplain area than a non-floodplain area because all of the additional engineering costs and stuff like that. I'm -- I actually work for the -- for the -- for the tnrcc, which is now the Texas commission on environmental quality for about 25 years. I'm a retired engineer myself. So I'm not -- I'm inactive right now. But I don't know -- nobody has never, for example, come on my place to actually take any elevations to see if -- if my property is actually in a floodplain area. So I don't know how fema comes up with this. You know? I don't know if there -- if they want more area or more property to be in the floodplain so they can collect more floodplain insurance money to pay the people on the gulf coast. You see what I'm saying? They want more people contributing to the insurance pool, I guess. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what they are thinking on this is. But nobody has never -- never come or asked me if they can get on my property and this is pretty much 32-acre tract is pretty much a -- an all wooded tract just about. Cleared it off maybe about 30-foot from the fence line, in order to walk around it, drive around part of it to fix fences, I run some cattle in there. It's basically open pasture land. In the future, you know, I might want to do something else with it type of thing. So --
>> whatever I mean I have no initial plans immediate plans up front right now. But, you know, if somebody wanted to do something else, sold it to them, this ends up reducing the value of my property is what it does. I don't see what basis they have used to come up with this -- with this floodplain. She talked about an elevation, nobody has ever shot any elevations over there as far as I know.
>> are we able to tell them before these map revisions this property was in a fema designated floodplain?
>> yes.
>> that would be a good question because the water you described going over the county road a few minutes ago would indicate that there are some flood issues there. Won't necessarily say you were in the floodplain in the old fema map. But we should be able to -- to help you make that determination. A lot of these properties have been in the floodplain all the time, right? Just that there are new maps that further -- that hopefully more clearly define floodplain areas as designated by fema. But we can help you with those two questions, one is whether you have been in the floodplain as recognized by fema historically, and two, today, what kind of zone that you are in. And maybe help you find the boundary lines on a larger map. But that's -- that's in our possession. When do we plan to take action on this? Effective 10-26.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> you didn't get the first letter. Can you get the second letter.
>> I have got this letter here dated August the 19th that I received this last Saturday on the 6th. So they must have mailed it like Thursday the 4th because typically, most letters I get, I get within a couple of days of the post office. I don't know why this letter took so long to get to me. You know, get it in just yesterday. Up on the internet at the school. I stayed up until about 1:00 or -- 1:20 last night, reading through this stuff, you know, kind of mind boggling. Some of the stuff I don't particularly care about in these regulations, a fence is an obstruction to a floodplain or whatever. Heck, I got a barbed wire fence to the south side of that property and the people that's got a 41-acre tract on the other side, I'm not too sure if they are even aware of this. A huge part of their property in the floodplain. They have got a bowl over, there it wants to -- a bull that wants to mate with my cows, torn up the fence, I have to fix a five strand barbed wire fence. These regulations says that I have got to get a permit to do that. That's totally ridiculous getting a permit to fix a field fence like that, you know. The bottom strand is probably only about that high off the ground. I've never, ever seen any -- any, you know, debris hung up in it from any rain ever. You know, I don't know what they consider a flood. They talk about being -- being inundated by water. That probably has never been inundated by water.
>> is there a local place that somebody can go and talk to fema to -- obviously we can't answer these questions.
>> yeah.
>> is there a local office? Fema does not have a local office. Their local office is denton. I would invite this gentleman and anybody else who has these type of questions to come on down to permits, give us a call, an e-mail, just answer the gentleman's question, barbed wire fences are not a problem for the floodplain. What we are looking at is more obstructive type of fences, privacy, things that do --
>> these regulations -- barbed wire fence is not covered.
>> the other thing, they talk about ponds --
>> did you hear that answer, though? Your barbed wire fence is not covered. You would be able to repair it without getting a permit. But a -- but a -- a more formidable fence may be covered. If you phoned us, got in touch with us. We would be able to make that determination.
>> another thing I think they talk about ponds. This property has got a small stock pond on it, not very deep, about five foot deep. This year, I have a rain gauge out there. 11 inches of rain, they have shown like 14 at the airport. My pond may be four feet deep, six inches deep, I don't get any rain here soon it could dry up on me. I'm thinking maybe I need somebody to go in there with a dozer, doze it down, make it deeper for the next time when I get rain in it whatever. Again, that appears to be covered here by these regulations. Just cleaning out a pond a little bit. A lot of little maintenance things that you do --
>> how many head of cattle do you have out there?
>> right now on that property only three cattle. That's just about all that it can handle with the drought.
>> talking about removing vegetation, getting a dozer, dozing off some of the pricklely pear, mesquites, holly bush which is a punch of pricklies on it that cattle can't eat, put improved grass, coastal or whatever, again I guess that you need a permit for that. I don't know. These are some of the things that I would like to see taken out of the regulations here, I don't see what it has anything -- even if it was in a floodplain, I don't see what that has a lot to do with, you know -- making a flood some other place worse for example.
>> it does sounds like it would be helpful for you to get with staff. Go over some of these questions because I think some of them they will be able to answer in a way that -- that let's you off the hook. In other ways, the respects that you are on the hook perhaps they could explain why. And -- and y'all can establish a relationship so that you can work this stuff out and know what's going on. Or -- or maybe and give you a contact with fema in denton so that you can really explore all of the ramifications. I hear ya. The piece of property that I grew up on was 28 acres in the floodplain, too.
>> I guess that's all of my comments.
>> can you chat with staff.
>> or set up a time.
>> I don't know, my meter is going to run out here in another 10 minutes.
>> parking is bad around here. But maybe just to exchange telephone numbers with stacy or whoever else inside t.n.r. Would be the best contact.
>> I will go ahead and do that right now because I think that I almost need to get going.
>> okay. Yes, sir.
>> your name, please.
>> my name is les huff, I have property at 18801 cameron road. Northeast Pflugerville. I believe sarah your precinct. First of all I would like to thank the commission for hearing me out today. And I empathize with your dilemmas as I was a former city council man in Pflugerville, planning and zoning commission and capital impact. I understand how these public hearings work. Basically, you listen to what we say then you pretty much do to some degree what you think is best for the majority of your constituents in the precinct. That being said, I would prefer to be over there and not here today. Like this gentleman here, I did not receive a letter until late last week dated August the 19th. I immediately got on the internet. And noticed that my property was now partially in a floodplain. I do not know if my property was in a floodplain prior to this new map. However, one interesting consideration that I would like to bring up, but I think fema has done us a disservice by not having an old map and a new map on display. I recall many times when engineers brought -- brought subdivision plans to us as a council and they showed us maps. That made it much easier, and clearer for all of us to see exactly what's being talked about. Therefore if I was in your position I would say to postpone this hearing until we can have the fema folks present some large maps where we can see it. However I don't expect that to be. That would be my first response today. Why does fema not have adequate resources for the people that they are about to affect, to make it better, to make it be explained better. This is a prime example. He doesn't even have internet. He can't even blow up a map. I would ask, any of the Commissioners do you have old maps and new maps in front of you? I don't believe anyone can say yes.
>> although the difference as I understand between the old and new maps is that our technology has improved substantially and we're able to come up with a much more accurate picture of what truly is the one percent floodplain.
>> I don't contest the accuracy. What I -- my point of order is that we don't have any exculpatory evidence in one way or the other.
>> exculpatory in what respect.
>> we don't have a map. I think that should be a prerequisite to give people, especially you that have to make the decision that affects us that, you know, that information that you need, you know, I'm a school teacher. And when I have to present something to parents, I don't give them my word for it. I have to present them with facts. I have to present them with evidence. To me it sends a message of distrust to the people. May I move on with my other concerns?
>> let me say this, though. And let me ask stacy, I guess, staff, one of these questions. Legal. The requirement that -- that when fema decides to -- on whatever criteria they use to update its fema maps, what are they required to do? Just on that change? What is fema required to do bylaw?
>> do you want to --
>> basically fema, when they update maps, they are required to do a public notice.
>> public notice.
>> this is only -- it's twice in the local newspaper and --
>> local newspaper.
>>
>> [indiscernible] section. Very minimal. They can hold public workshops and in this case the workshops were basically for public officials held back in 2003 when this mapping project started. There are detailed guidelines on how to map out floodplains. There's literally engineering manuals, you know, a foot thick on how this is done and what criteria is followed.
>> is the same criteria applied across the nation?
>> yes.
>> do they ever make exceptions? Do they make exceptions for particular areas?
>> no. There's different zones, flood zones. For example, coastal region may have -- a different zone than an area like a lake that's steady, Lake Travis for example. You have wind and water velocities at the coast that we don't have here. Areas of shallow flooding may be more common in areas around houston than they are around here. So there's different types of flood zones and different methods of -- of delineating those flood zones on maps. But it's standard nationwide.
>> and the -- the point of the national standards is -- is to -- is to establish criteria that would have to be followed by the federal government to -- to provide us assistance should there be a flood event that's catastrophic?
>> that's part of it. These are actually risk maps so they determine -- risk maps help determine your rate on your flood insurance. Where you are, what zone you are on the map determines what rate you will pay on your flood insurance. Fema also expects communities such as Travis County to adopt regulations to -- to have performance standards in these higher risk areas.
>> is there any subsidy to the flood insurance?
>> there are -- there are a community who participates in the national flood insurance, their citizens are eligible for the subsidized flood insurance. We are also eligible for federal grants because we participate in this federal program. And actually state law now requires that communities adopt regulations that would enable them to participate in the national flood insurance program. Let's give mr. Huff an opportunity to --
>> the state requires you to adopt this, so what's the use of being here today? That's a rhetorical --
>> the state doesn't specify the content. We have the authority to decide exactly what the guidelines entail.
>> with regard to not being able to see a map, it's diagnose to make it hard for me to describe my situation.
>> I do think we ought to give you a larger map, same offer with made to the other gentleman. Let you look at that. We won't take action today.
>> I actually pulled it up and saw the I could see where -- I'm only talking about two acres. My property is part of a potential development in the future out in Pflugerville. My property on the west is cameron road and on the north cele road. That corner is-- as I have looked at the proposed future road, there is a plan for a road from 971 to 130 that's going to go right in front of it. It's now in the e.t.j. Of Pflugerville. As I looked at that map, I noticed something to me that was very contradictory, my perception. On the south end, approximately 100 yards from my property, the elevation by the creek is lower than the elevation on the north indiana of -- the north end of my property. The north end is in the floodplain. The south end which I maintain another acre or two that I lease is not part of the floodplain but right against the creek. It comes through there. The creek makes kind of a wind around and I'm a square on both ends. My concern is one, development factor, immediate threat of irreparable harm. I believe that's what it is. If someone is going to come in and broad brush and devalue my property, I haven't seen anyone just like this gentleman doing any elevation measurements. Out where I live sarah, if you don't mind me calling you by your first name.
>> oh, no.
>> there's a lot of farmers. Rewatch the rain gauge every day. We recorded 16 inches of rain in a three day period. There was no flooding. I don't know if -- if fema has any records to go back 100 years, 120 years. I can understand the possible future development reduction of impervious cover that might cause future flooding. That may be 10 years, 15 years down the line from the estimates that I see in the planning that I was a part of that I keep up with. There are -- they are not here. But there are two of my neighbors that -- their whole homestead is in the floodplain, whether it was there before, I do not know. I would like for the commission to consider extending our -- or asking fema to extend these revisions because I never got a letter about those revisions. I never got a letter about an appellate process. I never got a letter about a protest process.
>> is there a process for -- for contesting to fema if there is an issue? For instance if the bank on one side is higher than on the other and yet the higher bank is in the floodplain and the lower bank isn't?
>> yes and no. The protest period for these maps has lapsed. They will be effective September 26th. Fema has made that abundantly clear. If there is an error in the maps, this gentleman for example may be able to provide them with survey information and do a letter map change for his property. That's typical in the development process. I do briefly look at his property on the new maps versus the old. And it appears that the change in the floodplain on his property is due to -- to new topographic information. In other words, we're going from 1970s, 10 to 20-foot contours to -- to 2003, two foot contours that we obtained through the
>> [indiscernible]
>> okay. So we technically need to do something about the 26th? By the 26th? If we push this thing --
>> let me tell you what will happen if we don't adopt regulations by the 26th that include these maps. Fema will post us on the federal register as non-compliant. They will not issue any new flood insurance policies for residents of Travis County. Nor will they renew any flood insurance policies for the county. Federally backed mortgages will not be available to citizens trying to purchase real estate all over the county. Worst case scenario, if -- if it really came to all that, it's -- it's possible they could call all federally backed mortgages due and payable.
>> well, you can see given the fact that you have --
>> you have no choice but to pass this.
>> pretty unreasonable. But didn't
>> [indiscernible] & associates do the contract work for our area? That's a local engineering firm. I mean, it may be from what they would say to you, if you called them, said hey I would like to show you a little spot on the map of where I am, can you tell me how the modeling was done. At this stage that's really what people are looking for. I can see where we are foxed in a corner here -- boxed in a corner here.
>> are you surprised?
>> no.
>> but also at the same time I'm also not surprised that -- at the risk of really making some individuals upset, I'm also not surprised that this is a top down program because as you well know having sat where we sit, one's heartstrings are pulled and case by case decisions are made. Sometimes based on personal relationships for -- or simply sympathy. Which then endanger other people. So I can understand why the federal government has chosen this -- this top down approach to ensure in every sense of the word that we create a -- a standard and that it's not deviated from.
>> I understand that. Just a couple more items that she's talked about endangerment. There are two bridges. Within -- within 100 yards of my property. Very unsafe bridges, one on cameron road. And one on cree le road. Now, if in fact you are concerned, really doesn't matter if you are concerned or not. You are boxed in. These bridges have no railings, these bridges are part of the floodplain area now. So -- so implore you to take -- to consider taking some action to make -- to bring these bridges up to some degree of compliance.
>> I believe there is some relation regarding the floodplain as well as the funds that are available to us. Pass through funds to -- to do that. We do have issues. That is absolutely right.
>> so if I understand this correctly, fema will -- will ignore the immediate threat of the irreputable harm to the citizens. You are stuck passing this. Or you lose all of these things that she talked about. So basically in a way this is -- this is a way for fema to -- to excuse me, but it is an election year, and the black eye -- I just believe this is a black eye of katrina, we're all having to suffer for it. That's my perception.
>> is this policy, does it -- is it since katrina?
>> the actual maps came -- they began working on the maps in 2003, that would have been before katrina.
>> but since that time we all know they have escalated their expediency on things. I'm just here as one of probably many who can't be here. Frankly, I think having a public hearing at 9:00 in the morning, as much as it may be a non-analagous paradigm for us, it sends a message of mistrust because everybody works and we can't give voice to all that we have to say. Having been on the other side of the gavel, I know firsthand how citizens feel about their time and their money and their property. I happen to take a half a day off of work from my students because I really feel that this is a disservice because I didn't receive a letter until last week. I don't know who is to blame, it doesn't matter now. But if there's any recourse for any of us to dispute some of these after the facts, since we didn't receive a letter, we had no idea, I had no idea, this gentleman had no idea. We are on both ends of the county. I would ask that the Commissioners inquire about any other recourse and remedy that we have before I yield my time.
>> make sure that we have your contact information.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> anybody else during this public hearing? Please come forward if so.
>> move that the public hearing be closed.
>> second.
>> let's plan to take action two weeks from today. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. I do think whatever recourse there is, we ought to try to -- to maybe summarize the steps, make that available.
>> I have got some ideas.
>> okay.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 1:37 AM