1995-04-27_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

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e 12 TALK nter 1 5 oodpiain Man nt ...Continued from e l t program is divided into two parts: small grants and large grants. Small grants are under S75A00 and are generally used for studies that lend to projects or for implementing very small projects. The DNR currently has an appropriation of S 160,000 per year for small grants. Large grants are for amounts over 575,000 and are used to implement flood damage reduction projects. Proposals for large grants ore submitted by DNR to the Governor and the Legislature for opproval. Since 1987 over 90 grants totaling over S 10.2 million have been made to local governments to conduct flood control studies, to acquire flood-prone homes. to construct dams and impoundments. to build levees, to improve stormwater monagement systems, to help pay for the non-federal share of federal flood control projects, and to help cost-share federal hazard mitigation activities following Presidentially declared disasters. tt ~ estimated that S30 million in flood hazard mitigation grants over the next 15 years will be needed to significantly reduce the average annual flood damages from the current level of S60-70 million. Funding at this level will allow us to meet our overall goal of eliminating flood damages to homes and businesses. Funding at lower levels extends the time that is needed to meet the goal. The most critical need is to have a consistent level of funding so that local governments can plan for and schedule the implementation of flood damage reduction projects. This will not eliminate flood damages because there will always be a certain amount of agricultural, road, culvert, bridge, erosion, and business disruption .damages that will continue to occur. tt should, however, eliminate or at least significantly reduce the flood damage to homes and businesses. There will always be some people who wig continue to live and work near rivers where floods will continue to occur, but proper ftoodplain zoning and flood insurance should reduce the economic impacts of these activities. Ail grant requests that are received are evaluated and put onto a priority list for presentation to the Legislature. Criteria used to evaluate grants are identified in M.S. 103F.161. Some of the major criteria include: what other flood damage reduction activities have been implemented by the local government unit; can the project be implemented; will it reduce flood damages; will the project affect areas that flood often; is the project cost effective; do people support it; will there be a loss of adverse environmental impacts; is the local unit of governmenteffectively administering their floodplain zoning ordinance; is the project part of a city or county local water plan: does the community have the capability to implement the project without any state assistance; and what is the total cost of the project. These factors in addition to the availability of federal funds are used to prioritize projects. The DNR will soon be putting together its flood damage reduction bonding request for presentation to the 1996 Legislature for approval. Staff at the DNR are aware of some of the funding requests that will be made because we have been working with the communities to study and/or resolve flooding problems. re are flood projects, however, that we ore not aware of, and we would appreciate heorinfl from communities with flooding problems where solutions have been identified that not implemented. ff your community is in this situation, pie®se contact your local DNR Area Hydrologist for assistance in filing a Flood Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grant Application. _ fie work that provides the basis fa this pubicatbn was supported h part by tundhg under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The s<ibsta'+ce and ttndings of that work are dedicated to the public. The otdhot and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and k-terpretatbns contained in the pubik;ation. Such inter- . pretatkxis do not necessarily reflect the views of the Fedora Government. _ ~ - - This lnformaiYon is available in on alternative format upon request.