Borough looks to re-draw flood maps

WASILLA — Kevin Tubbs says he’s worried about flooding along the Little Susitna River.

He’s not worried about the flooding today or tomorrow. He’s not even worried about floods 10 years from now.

Instead, Tubbs worries about where officials with the Mat-Su Borough and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are going to draw the lines of potential flooding areas.

Tubbs was hoping to buy property between Vinceland Circle and the Little Su River. The property’s listed appraised value is about $269,000, according to borough property records.

At the last minute before the deal closed, Tubbs’s real estate agent showed him two maps of the same property. The maps changed everything.

“Moments before we closed, we were notified of the pending doom,” Tubbs said.

In one map, a network of purple strands traveled across the property, showing low spots where flooding could potentially occur. On the other, a broad swath of white with purple edging flows across the property. That white worries Tubbs. It indicates the “flow way” for the river, and it means that lenders will require flood insurance for that area. The first map is the property as it stands now. The second map is the property’s flood zone coverage as it might appear in the future.

“What we’re talking about for this lady is her property has over-100-year-old trees,” Tubbs said. “They’ve reclassified over half of her 40 acres as ultra flood zone.”

The property is one of nine that borough officials estimate are in a similar situation: properties that were only in the flood plain will now appear in the flow way.

The difference between a flood plain and flow way is basically that water will pool in the flood plain, while in the flow way, structures are potentially at risk, according to borough permit technician Michelle Olsen.

A planned revision to borough flood maps — borough officials aren’t yet sure when a public hearing about the new maps will be held — has been in the works for months, according to public meeting testimony and Olsen. The last previous revision to the maps was 1985, Olsen said. Borough officials have had more accurate laser-based mapping data to work from since at least 2012, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has recently returned updated flood plain maps showing the new boundaries based on the more accurate data.

“We have our draft maps,” she said. “It will take a few months to review them.”

Borough officials say the reverse situation to the one Tubbs fears is actually far more common. If the new maps are approved, about 1,100 homes currently located in the flood plain would be removed, meaning local property owners may no longer be required by lenders to purchase flood insurance for their homes. All told, that could amount to as much as $11 million in savings over 15 years, Olsen said.

By far, the most common area where property owners will come out of the flood zone is the Bodenburg Butte area, Olsen said.

“Everything on the east side of the Old Glenn Highway,” she said. “Go to any street corner and start throwing stones. Pretty much every property you hit is going to be no longer in the flood plain.”

Conversely, 128 property owners will find themselves in flood plains who weren’t before, meaning certain restrictions — like stricter permit requirements for new construction — will apply to them. Of those, nine will find parts of their property in the flow way, meaning a federal insurance mandate would apply to them, according to floodsmart.gov. The portion likely to be impacted in Tubbs’ case is all raw land, Olsen said.

Once the maps are enacted, the only way out is to file an appeal with FEMA, and to commission a hydraulic and hydrologic study by a licensed engineer.

“That’s simply to protect folks,” Olsen said. “If you’re spending $100,000 on a cabin in the middle of a floodway, you’re going to be looking at the taxpayers to save you. We can’t incur that kind of cost. A, we don’t want you to get hurt, B, we don’t want to have to come rescue you — though we will have to — and C, we don’t want you to lose everything you’ve got.”

Property owners looking to see how the maps will potentially impact their homes can contact borough officials at permitcenter@matsugov.us, or via phone at 861-7822.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.