Preliminary flood mitigation plan for Ellicott City (Baltimore, Frederick: insurance, loans)

[North Beach Person]

Ambitious Ellicott City flood prevention plan will tear down stretch of Main Street buildings - Howard County Times

Sounds like it's going to be a variation of Frederick's system.

[seanlax]

Sounds about right. $40 - $50 million? I SERIOUSLY doubt that will be even half the final price tag.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by seanlax

Sounds about right. $40 - $50 million? I SERIOUSLY doubt that will be even half the final price tag.

Nah. That's just the preliminary first stage work that was outlined in the article. I don't know how much Frederick's system cost, I seem to remember being told $80M.

[bus man]

I hate to see the old historic buildings torn down, especially since the ones that are slated for the wrecking ball are among the most architecturally attractive (IMO). But then again, what choice do we have? Building a town in a narrow valley at the confluence of four streams is practically screaming "FLOOD ME!!" It's happened before, and it will happen again. Better to lose a few buildings than to have to keep rebuilding after the deluge, again and again and again.


If they do it right, they could make the widened Tiber Branch channel pedestrian accessible, with places to sit and enjoy the stream (when it's not flooding). Maybe something like Carroll Creek in Frederick.

[TommyCarcetti]

It's a damn shame that county officials would rather destroy the historic properties than the newer development that is at least somewhat responsible for the devastating flooding.

This plan wouldn't fly in a historical district in Baltimore City.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by TommyCarcetti

It's a damn shame that county officials would rather destroy the historic properties than the newer development that is at least somewhat responsible for the devastating flooding.

This plan wouldn't fly in a historical district in Baltimore City.

That would depend. If the area has suffered a series of highly damaging floods in a relatively short period of time at some point FEMA offers a choice.

One of those choices is mitigating the possibility of future damage by lifting the building above BFE, for which FEMA offers both grants and low/no interest loans. Another is rebuilding as before but then being excluded from flood insurance coverage. The third choice is selling at fair market value less 2% with the property being placed in a permanent open space easement.


I understand your sentiment in your first paragraph, and even somewhat agree, but the reality is that those downtown buildings are living on borrowed time. There hasn't been a whole lot of coverage since the flooding but it wouldn't surprise me if at least a couple of them have to come down anyway due to structural damage making them unsafe.

[seanlax]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Nah. That's just the preliminary first stage work that was outlined in the article. I don't know how much Frederick's system cost, I seem to remember being told $80M.

That closer. At my last job we all spent half a day thinking about it and came up with $100M design-build.