The City and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”) are continuing to move to complete certification of the levee and floodwall project which is required for accreditation by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”). When USACE certifies the project, USACE essentially tells FEMA it is time and necessary to accredit the flood works structure(s) which will drive a Letter of Map Revision. The City and USACE consider project success the accreditation of the flood works project and the Letter of Map Revision. The certification process is taking longer than normally would for a few reasons: (1) the work has been completed over many years and some portions of the wall construction are now more than 15 years old, (2) USACE personnel involved in some of the earliest construction are gone, retired or moved on, and (3) current USACE levee safety staff, now being responsible in an “engineer of record” situation, are being extremely responsible and are assuring everything about the structure is and remains within standard – USACE staff are crawling all over and into the structure to assure it will work and will serve its intended purpose. Based on this, and the industry standard for this kind of process, the City has received estimates for completed accreditation in the area of, or around, spring 2021. This will ensure each review team has the time it needs to ensure a quality result. The City indicates it will seek to pass along any additional information it may receive from the federal agencies regarding updates or delays to the project timeline.
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