[StBernard] Mitigation Questions

[Westley Annis]

Mr./Ms. J. Hodges 
 
What is the funding source for these buyouts? 
       Mitigation properties are from FEMA Public Assistance plus Individual
Assistance X 7 1/2 perccent to the state which prioritizes projects for
funding.
 
Is this part of the FEMA's  
HMGP and be deed restricted?
      Yes
 
 Will this be voluntary?
      Yes, but there are measures that may be taken to increase
participation should a compliance issue arise- this has not even started to
be discussed at this point.

So the Munster sewer treatment plant would be enlarged?  I'm having a hard  
time seeing why this large tract of land will be needed for sewer  
treatment expansion--especially for a parish that's predicted to loose  
over half of its population.
      Any expansion of the Munster plant would be east-west.  This is not a
new discussion- consolidation of sewer treatment has been an ongoing
discussion for several years.  The mitigation of the properties is tied to
the added deterioration of the streets and drainage because of the truck
traffic.  An alternate route may avert the need for proposed mitigation, but
that has not been made available to this point.

Does this area include the Village Square Shopping Centre? 
     Yes
 
 When was that area developed anyway? 
      The 70's 
 
It's flooded quite a bit over the years for storms.  
Was it pre-FIRM development? 
       Yes
 
Won't those houses need to be raised or  
demolished and redeveloped for NFIP compliance anyway?
    Some of the properties would be non-compliant, but remember there was a
variance granted and some of the houses were raised as a result of previous
flooding.


>> There is not a design plan at this point and the future of other canals  

>> may be looked at as well as the plan comes together The whole  

>> rebuilding discussion is a fluid process.


Why isn't there a plan? It is being developed.  Previous master plans are
not quite applicable as pre-storm.  To make this whole thing come together,
the ideal would be to freeze time-  the difficult balance of metering
repopulation with new changes brings daily challenges.  My goal is to get
the parish back on its feet- but what type of shoes we will wear so to speak
is a very real issue.  If all we do is open the flood gates, there will be
no real opportunity to make things any differnt, much less any better.
 
Is the parish working with an Urban Planner?
    The citizens recovery committee has been tasked to assist in this regard
and Grover Mouton from Tulane is the lead planning expert combined with
other planners who have been discussing options to be considered.

Also in an unrelated issue, there are still many many areas of the parish  
that have not been added to the Barowka and Bonura Building Assessment  
Database--including most of Francis Place Subdivision.  Do you know when  
we'll be able to get this information?
     I will follow up with this question.  But keep in mind that many of the
assessments have come back questionable in validity.
 

Hope this helps.
 
Craig