3. Flood Hazard Mitigation fund - Laserfiche WebLink

Nay, 5. 2004 10:55AM ëA 55 CO I.JI\FìY GOVERNMENT ..¡.. Highway Department Keith D. Berndt, rE. County Hn¡.,'Ím',er Rkh¡mI S. SjL:~ Superìnrendenr Thomas B. Soucy! RE. Design and COJt~truction Supervisor 1201 West Mcún Avenue P.O. Box 698 West Fargo. North Dakota 50078,0698 701-298,2370 Pax 701,298,2'9'1 Cass County HighwaY Dept. No.3576 p. 1 MEMORANDUM TO: CaBS County Commission Keith Berndt, Cass County Engineer -y:ß FROM: DATE: ,November 5, 2004 S1JBJECT: Agenda Topic for November 15, 2004 Meeting: Return of Flood IIazard Mitigatìon Funds Summary: I recommend that the County Commission notify the North Dakota Division of Emergency Management that approximately $2mi11ion in hazard mitigation grant funds designated for the CO1.ll1ty g¡-eenway initiative ean not be gpent as previously planned. ^ representative of the North Dakota Division of Emergency Management has agreed to attend the meeting to assist with questions you might have. Background: In 1998 Cass County applied for FEMA hazard mitigation grant runds to acquire flood prone property adjaccnt to the Red and Wild Rice Rivers south of Fargo. The ob.icctive was to create a pub He greenway that would provide a wide variety of public benefits in addition to Hood mitigation. Following several years of lobbying ror the prqject, a grant totaling about $2 million dollars was approved Ül 2002. The grant had some fairly restrictive, but workable criteria. In dlc months and years following the 2002 grant approval, considerable effort was expended meeting with landowners and appraising properties or interested owners. A sales agreement was reached with the owners of the fIrSt priority property. The proposed acquisition included in t:xcess of200 acres and was valued at over $1 million. Following numerous discussions and meetings with FEMA officials, FEMA denied the request to proceed with the acquisitions. In January of2004, tht: FEMA Region 8 director issued a letter in response to an inquiry from Scnator Dorgan. The letter conveyed a very significant change in FEMA's potiey regarding the acquisitions. A new constraint was added which essential1y made further acquisitions ÌInpractieaJ.