Town of Saratoga to accept new flood maps

Calling it "a battle we more than likely can't win" the Saratoga Town Council will not be challenging the updated flood insurance rate maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

That decision came at the October 17 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council following information from Nathan Werner of S20 Engineering. The firm had been engaged by the Town of Saratoga last month to review the preliminary maps released by FEMA. Werner, along with reviewing the maps, worked with Director of Public Works Emery Penner and Jon Nelson of North Fork Engineering.

"We know we're getting new floodplain maps. Jon (Nelson) in the past has raised some questions about the accuracy, I saw some things on there I didn't necessarily think ponied up," said Penner. "We talked to S20 (Engineering), we reached out to another firm, we've looked at getting a third-party review of these to see if there's any big smoking guns to try and improve our situation based on a technical review. With the timeline coming on our appeal process, we wanted to see if we could get something done quickly. These guys did get their review done by the October 11 deadline."

The appeal process for the maps began in August, when the maps were released. Municipalities were given a window of 90 days to review the maps, find anything they felt was inaccurate and contest the proposed maps. S20 Engineering was asked to review the data and models provided by FEMA for their flood insurance rate maps and determine if there were any discrepancies which would allow the Town of Saratoga to challenge the maps.

"When I started this, I wanted to just look for the easy mistakes that are commonly made in these types of models and studies. Those mistakes are non-existent in this process," said Werner. " The modeling appears to be well done. Every input into the model seems appropriate."

While there weren't any major errors, according to Werner, there were a few concerns he said were worth mentioning to FEMA. One of the main concerns, said Werner, was a variance between what was shown on the preliminary flood maps and what can be seen real time along the North Platte River.

"There's obvious berms shown within the cross sections on the edges of the channel bank that don't exist in reality," said Werner. "Those raised a question for me."

Another area of concern, said Werner, was the way in which the river was modeled. According to him, FEMA modeled the North Platte River in "slices" and connected the dots between the slices of the river.

"These slices had raised the question early on of 'is this accurately modeling what is occurring on the west side of the river through the bulk of town,'" said Werner "In the preliminary maps, there's a disconnect map between what is shown as the 100 year floodplain versus the 500 year floodplain."

Despite the disconnects and the concerns with the one-dimensional preliminary flood insurance rate maps, Werner said he found few differences when he ran the same data through a two-dimensional program. That program, he said, largely reproduced a similar map to the one produced by FEMA. The major difference between the two was Werner did not include bridges in his model.

"There's a couple of things within the mapping that I think can be explained or improved. The big things on the maps that I think needs to be addressed is they don't show the actual cross sections that were modeled on the proposed maps. That should be a really easy thing for them to fix and update and show those lines that go all the way across the floodplain," said Werner. "I do think it is worth asking for those maps to be cleaned up and show the actual information on them and show the real cross sections."

Beyond the few issues he believed should be addressed with FEMA, Werner said he believed the federal agency ultimately "did a good job."

Penner asked Werner if he believed it was worth the time and the money for the Town of Saratoga to pursue a Letter Of Map Revision (LOMR) after the map was accepted. A LOMR is one of several processes through which a flood insurance rate map can be amended, noting changes to the map due to physical measures taken to prevent flooding.

"I think you're playing with a double-edged sword," said Werner. "I think there's minor changes that can be made to the existing study that are within that purview of the comments on the study."

Nelson, who has been outspoken about the flood insurance rate maps since they were announced, compared pursuing a LOMR to the "trolly problem." This problem is one often found in ethics and psychology, placing the person asked at the junction of a trolly track. On one track are five people who could be hit by the trolly if it is to continue on its path, on the other is one person who could be hit if the trolly was to change direction. The problem asks which is the more ethical choice, let the trolly continue unchanged or divert the trolly onto the track with one person.

"I don't want to pull that lever," said Nelson.

Penner recommended to the council it accept the preliminary maps presented by FEMA, saying without a "big smoking gun" he believed there was little the Town of Saratoga could do to change the maps.

"I think if we mess with it very much, we could wind up in worse shape than what we are. I've never known the federal government to cut anyone a break," said Councilmember Mike Cooley. "I just think it's a battle we more than likely can't win."

Mayor Chuck Davis and the rest of the council agreed with Cooley, stating they believed they had done their due diligence for the residents of Saratoga.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on November 7 at Saratoga Town Hall.