Community Corner
Stafford Adopts New FEMA Maps But Continues V Zone Challeges
The Stafford Township Council voted on second reading to adopt the recently amended Federal Emergency Management Agency's Base Flood Elevation Maps at Tuesday's meeting
The Stafford Township Council voted on second reading to adopt the recently amended Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Base Flood Elevation Maps at Tuesday’s meeting.
But adopting the maps does not mean they will stop appealing to FEMA on behalf of the approximately 125 homeowners in the East Point section of the township that are still in the “V” zone.
Adopting the current maps will let a majority of the township’s homeowners that were in a V zone to move forward with their future plans as they are now in A or AE zones, which require less stringent building requirements and elevations, according to Mayor John Spodofora.
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Prior to the vote, the mayor and council spent approximately one hour answering questions from concerned owners still in the V zone, which primarily now encompasses all the bayside homes on the end of Mill Creek Road.
“We are asking all those in that area, from the 1700 block to out to the end to provide us with their elevation certificates,” said the mayor.
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They should also include a history of their property as it relates to prior flood or storm damage as FEMA bases much of their rulings on past events, he added. “FEMA said they didn’t consider Sandy in their current maps, so if someone hasn’t had damage before this we need to know,” he added.
The township has sent letters out to the homeowner affected, but Spodofora encouraged those that spoke at the meeting to reach out their neighbors who may not have sent in their elevations to do so. “Ideally we’d like to have 100% (of the homes affected), he said.
The township may also be sending out their engineers to shoot the top of bulkhead elevations in the area, Spodofora said.
Based on what data they already have the mayor believes FEMA is wrong in their calculation for the V zone designation in East Point. “You need four feet of still water to sustain a three foot wave. And you need the potential of a three foot wave to be placed in a V zone,” he said.
With the current ground elevations in the area at 6 feet or higher there would have to be four feet of water above that to produce a three foot wave, he added.
“That’s the law of physics and even FEMA can’t ignore physics,” said the mayor.
