Borough surveys flood plain owners about buyout option

BY BRIAN O’CONNOR

Frontiersman.com

BUTTE — Mat-Su Borough officials are conducting a survey of residents living in a flood-prone neighborhood this week about participation in a possible buyout program.

A survey positing the question was recently mailed to about 20 property owners between Mile 13 and 17, Old Glenn Highway. Waters from the Matanuska River have plagued the area since 2012, and flooding in the area has been an issue since as early as 1971. Borough officials say they haven’t yet received firm count on how many of the residents have indicated they would participate, saying only two property owners have returned their surveys thus far.

Surveys are due by July 31, in part so borough officials can prepare an application for a portion of a $1 billion U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fund set aside for flood mitigation plans, according to borough flood plain manager Pamela Ness. The borough has a fund of about $197,000 already set aside for flood mitigation, which would combine with the federal money to complete the buyout.

“We can’t really apply for anything until next year,” she said. “We’re getting everything ready so that when the window opens up we’ll have everything ready to go and we won’t be behind the ball.”

The survey offered property owners three choices: to sell their property at fair market value and manage the relocation or demolition of their existing structures themselves; to sell their property at slightly less than fair-market value and allow the borough to demolish standing structures; or no response.

A few property owners have said they’d welcome a fair market value buyout.

Bruce Derstine’s work on a temporary berm to slow or stop water from the advancing river continued Monday. His house could easily be potentially reassembled somewhere else in part because of the method used for its construction, Derstine said.

“If they follow through with it, I have no problem with it,” he said. “It all depends on the appraised value of the properties.”

Pat Huddleson, who helped to coordinate the “Plug the Hole” project, a crowd-funded effort at repairing a section of dike near her property, said her participation was dependent on the numbers, and that she was skeptical whether the buyout program would be completed.

“It (the buyout) isn’t a sure thing,” she said. “It’s just a thing that says whether you’re interested.”

Tyra Blanchard, who co-owns the Rival Park motocross track in the affected area with her husband Ralph, said they were likely to consider participation in the buyout program so that, if the offer were substandard, they could then opt out, as opposed to not responding and being unable to opt in.

“We’re interested in seeing what they might offer,” she said.

“If they give us the assessed value, we’d be pretty stupid not to take it,” Blanchard added. “We want to be sure we have the option to opt out.”

While for the Blanchards the park has an emotional investment — they are deeply passionate about motocross — the issue is a little more comfortably removed for them, since they don’t live on the property, they said.

After the July 31 deadline, officials said they plan to hire an appraiser to conduct a fair-market appraisal of the properties. That number would then be included in their application to HUD for the buyout funds.

Property owners can return their surveys in person at the borough office, or via mail.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.