The Arizona Daily Star published an article today detailing an effort started in 2005 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that is just now coming to fruition. The bottom line is that many areas in the Southwest US (including Pima County) that are currently designated as “safe” in terms of flood protection may be re-designated as flood plains.

How are they deciding what is a flood plain?

“Marana Mayor Ed Honea received a letter July 20 from FEMA stating that the agency had done an overview of the area and determined that various structures within the town’s limits fall under the definition of a levee.

Brann said FEMA issued similar letters to all parts of the Southwest U.S. around the same time, starting a 90-day clock, by thee end of which each jurisdiction must supply FEMA with proof of which levees have provisionally accredited levee agreements.”

I’m curious to see just what a “provisionally accredited levee agreement” means but I assume that levees have to be periodically re-certified in terms of reliability and have some sort of federal stamp of approval. Here is a link to the FEMA page of the document in question.

Will it affect me?

The article states that homeowner’s who currently have home insurance in a low risk zone (Zone X) will be grandfathered in with their current rates once (and if) their home is re-designated to be in a flood plain when the new maps come out on September 20th. The people who will feel the crunch are the new homebuyer’s to the area with a federally backed mortgage; flood-insurance is required for all federally backed mortgages in a [tag]Zone A flood plain[/tag]. (Learn about different flood plain designations)

For anyone who is in the San Lucas subdivision I would suggest checking into a Zone X policy; be aware that the premium will have to be paid up front for the entire year. I called up my insurance representative and he said that if homeowners haven’t purchased flood insurance and their home is then re-designated to be in flood-plain, not only will they have to purchase a Zone A flood insurance policy but their lender will also probably require them to pay for a surveyor out of pocket to come out to their property and draw up a survey map (could cost $500-$600). Check with your lender/insurance company to be sure.

(Am I in a flood zone? <- Click here to find out!)

EDIT: 5/14/2008

Since I’ve written this post there have been a few notable developments, namely the issuing of a stay order by FEMA until October 2008 to allow the Town of Marana time to conduct it’s own floodplain study to present to FEMA officials.

Here is a short excerpt from a the Town of Marana’s website:

The Town of Marana has selected a drainage consultant to perform this large scale drainage study to show the actual floodplain hazards in these areas. FEMA has given the Town until October 2008 to submit the study information to affect the final maps. The Town and its consultant are on schedule to make this submittal in late May or early June 2008. It is expected that much but not all of the areas will be shown to not be classified as a FEMA special flood hazard area (SFHA), which is an area that requires the purchase of flood insurance.

Until we hear about this issue a lot of Marana residents (including me for the time being) are feeling antsy. Having to pay flood insurance would certainly slow down the incredible expansion towards the NW side of town until that issue is resolve; I have no doubt the pending Fry’s at Tangerine/Lon Adams would be postponed (again) and the super complex being planned at I-10/Tangerine may be put in jeopardy too. Will keep you posted!

Tagged as: Marana FEMA flood plain, Marana flood insurance, Town of marana, Tucson Real Estate