For everyone I have spoken with asking for some kind of information on the standards that the Corps sets forth for plantings on the levee, this may be helpful! The original document is posted here.
Month: December 2014
What Trees are will be Cleared from White River?
We’ve had lots of questions regarding what trees are being removed on White River and along Riverview Dr.? As I understand it, ALL trees, roots, trunks (EVERYTHING) will be cleared 15′ from the levee toe slope going towards the White River. So if you take a walk down the levee, not very many, if any trees will be left.
There is an informational meeting this Thursday, December 11, if you have questions or concerns, show-up THIS Thursday, December 11 at 5pm. I don’t know if it’s too late to voice your opinion, but you never know.
Proposed tree clearing along White River
Re-posted from www.friendsofwhiteriver.org
“City and Corps plan would remove mature trees along more than two miles of high-quality riparian habitat”
Portions of the tree-lined banks of White River from the Westfield Boulevard bridge to the Kessler Avenue bridge will be cleared of many of the mature hardwood species that provide some of the best wildlife habitat in the city, under a plan proposed by the Indianapolis Department of Public Works and the U.S Army Corps of Engineers.
The work is part of the much-debated flood control measures for the city’s northside but is much more extensive in terms of clearing large numbers of trees than was the case with an earlier part of the city/federal project below the Kessler Avenue bridge. Concerns about the project include removing trees and vegetation in some areas along the east-bank levee all the way to the waterline. Questions are also being raised on exactly what is needed to meet FEMA requirements for revising flood insurance coverage maps for the Broad Ripple Village and Warfleigh neighborhoods, and which areas will actually benefit.
An opportunity to ask questions and learn more is set for Thursday, December 11, at 5 p.m. when the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Water conducts a public hearing at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 6050 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis. Topics under discussion will be limited. If the permit is approved under limited and very specific state guidelines governing it, work will begin almost immediately.
Friends of White River will be represented at the session, and encourages anyone interested in the river and how we use and treat it as a resource to attend this important meeting! Public input in the past in this area was a key factor in determining the approach to levee restoration work.
Good News for the Indianapolis North Flood Damage Reduction Project
Original story posted on wthr.com
One of the many issues facing the Indianapolis North Flood Damage Reduction Project is the lack of available funding from the City. The City-County Council approving the water rate increase will help to fund projects such as ours!
______________________________
Council passes increase on storm water fees
Posted: Dec 01, 2014 6:46 PM EST Updated: Dec 01, 2014 8:48 PM EST
By Mary Milz, WTHR Citybeat reporter
INDIANAPOLIS – A majority of Marion County homeowners could soon be paying more in storm water fees.
Monday night, the City-County Council approved a new rate structure to help address storm water infrastructure needs. The measure passed by a 17-11 vote.
Currently, residential customers pay a flat fee of $2.25 a month. Department of Public Works spokesperson Stephanie Wilson said under the new rate structure, they would be charged based on the amount of “impervious surface area” on their property or any surface that doesn’t absorb water. That includes surfaces such as an asphalt driveway or concrete patio.
Wilson said the new monthly billing rate would be $1.10 per 1,000 square feet of impervious surface area.
She said, under the new fee structure, 40% of homeowners would pay $3.30/month, 20% would pay $4.40/month, 20% would pay less than $2.25/month and 20% would pay more than $4.40/month.
The changes do include a built-in escalator of five cents on the monthly billing rate. Wilson said someone who pays $3.30/month under the new rate would pay about $3.80/month in ten years.
Wilson said that compares to the $4.95/month Fishers residents now pay and the $6/month homeowners in Muncie pay.
If approved, the new rates would take effect July 1, 2015. The fees show up on a homeowner’s annual property tax bill.
What does Waters (Biggert-Waters) think of the Bill she co-authored?
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/09/30/306602.htm
Rep. Waters, Author of Flood Reform Act, Calls for Delay in Implementation
A Congresswomen whose name adorns the now-controversial federal flood insurance reform bill passed in 2012 says she wants the law changed to deal with “unintended consequences” including big premium hikes for some homeowners.
Rep. Maxine Waters, (D.-Calif.), co-author along with Rep. Judy Biggert, (R-Ill.), of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, released a statement saying she is “outraged by the increased costs of flood insurance premiums that have resulted from the Biggert-Waters Act. I certainly did not intend for these types of outrageous premiums to occur for any homeowner.”
According to Waters, “Neither Democrats nor Republicans envisioned it would reap the kind of harm and heartache that may result from this law going into effect.”
Last June, the House passed the bipartisan bill 373-52 and sent the measure to the Senate, which passed it, 74-19. President Barack Obama signed sign it into law in July.
Biggert is no longer in Congress, having decided not to run for re-election.
Waters, ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, said she is committed to fixing the “unintended consequences” of the law and passing legislation to delay most rate changes for three years “to give FEMA the opportunity to ensure its maps are accurate and allow Congress to make certain rates are affordable.”
“Since the law was enacted, we have seen a slew of confusion in FEMA mapping. In addition, many families now face increased costs that will make homeownership so expensive that many would be forced from their homes or find it impossible to sell. This is unacceptable,” she stated.
In the past few months as rate increases have begun to be announced, lawmakers from both parties have called for a delay in the law’s effects.
Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), told Congress last week that he does not have the authority to stop the increases and the law needs to be changed for FEMA to delay any premium hikes.
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney has filed suit against the government to try to stop the increases. Chaney argues that FEMA failed to issue a report on the affordability of the premium increases and should be stopped from implementing the rest of the law until it does so.
The Biggert-Waters act was an attempt to shore up the flood insurance program by moving it towards risk-based pricing. The law eliminates premium subsidies for repetitive loss properties, property owners who do not take steps to mitigate, secondary homes and certain properties that have been protected from risk-based rates by grandfathering.
The NFIP collects more than $3.5 billion in annual premium revenue, and FEMA estimates that an additional $1.5 billion annually is needed from subsidized policyholders for it to get financially even.
FEMA estimates that about 20 percent of its 5.5 million policyholders — about 1.1 million — currently receive subsidies. Under Biggert-Waters, about 250,000 of them will see immediate increases: business owners, those owning second homes and people with frequently flooded properties, according to FEMA.
An additional 578,000 policyholders living in hazardous areas will retain their subsidies until they sell their homes or suffer severe, repeated flood losses. The same is true for people in condominiums.
NFIP began implementing higher rates for second homes in January. In October, rates on businesses in flood zones and homes that have been severely or repeatedly flooded are supposed to start going up 25 percent a year until the rates reach actuarial indications.
MEETING TONIGHT 6 PM!
Don’t forget about the meeting tonight! It’s at St Paul’s Episcopal Church off of Meridian St. There are several buildings but the meeting is in the Church Building, Lilly Room.
The EASIEST way to find the Lilly Room is enter through the MAIN** church doors at 61st & Meridian Dr. W.
Go down the hallway until it until it ends and turn right.
At the end of the hall turn left.
The Lilly Room is straight ahead of you.
** If by chance the Main doors are not open (although I was told they would be) you can look to your left from the main doors and there is a side entrance into the church building.
Senators Joe Donnelly and Dan Coates, where is your help for Indianapolis neighborhoods?
Congressman Robert Hurt statement on flood insurance hearing
Published Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014, 6:05 pm
Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) released the following statement after attending a hearing held by the Financial Services’ Housing and Insurance Subcommittee entitled, “Opportunities for a Private and Competitive Sustainable Flood Insurance Market.”
“Our current government-provided flood insurance system has proven ineffective, inefficient, and costly to taxpayers. While Congress has been successful in modestly reforming the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), we still face a situation where Congress has chosen to solidify NFIP’s broken balance sheet with little hope for it returning from the red.
“The NFIP is $24 billion in debt and as it is currently structured and administered, there is potential for moral hazard. It is critical that this Subcommittee work to pursue significant reforms that will allow us to chart a new course for the NFIP and put the program on more sound financial footing. Hard-working taxpayers deserve a federal flood insurance program that is fiscally responsible and responsibly constructed. We must enhance the program’s integrity, make it self-sustaining, increase private market coverage, and reduce the risk to taxpayers across the nation.
“We cannot continue to settle for the status quo of a flood insurance system, one that crowds out the private sector in order to subsidize insurance premiums for a select few Americans at the expense of the rest of the country. I look forward to working with my colleagues on Housing and Insurance Subcommittee to reform the NFIP and establish a private, competitive, and sustainable flood insurance market.”
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Agenda for Meeting December 3
Here is a tentative agenda for our Wednesday meeting. We hope to see you there! IF you have ANY questions, please email us. We LOVE our neighborhood and want to see it thrive and move forward with the rest of Indianapolis. We need your help and input!!
SAVE WARFLEIGH.ORG
December 3, 2014 Meeting
Agenda Items
• Who We Are
• What We Want
• What We’ve Done
• What We’re Working on Now
• What We Need
• Your Ideas for action
• Core of active participants to help with tasks, planning and resources
• Striving to mass of interested stakeholders to participate in events and actions
• Next Steps
• ACTION!!!!!!
• Database of street addresses in affected area: our goal for the next meeting
• Moving toward more signatures
• Utilize petition drive to gather contact information and e-mails
• Determine how to best harness and mobilize community force
• Open Questions and Discussions
Warfleigh.Org 