|
The Letter of Final Determination will be postponed until July 15th. Below are two memos related to Clark County Flood Plane Maps I would like to thank everyone that has help get us this far. The Lake Association will continue to monitor the process for all of our members. We will send updates out when we have new information to share. I would expect it to be several weeks before we have any new information. Jim Beale President Lake Arbutus Association
The appeals period for Clark County was closed on 9/01/08, but FEMA and the DNR continue to coordinate resolution of local concerns forwarded through local governmental bodies. One issue is the delineation of the SFHA along Lake Arbutus , which is adjacent to Jackson County . I believe that Senator’s Kohl’s office may have picked up on some local concerns for this issue. FEMA and the DNR held a phone conference this afternoon, and we agreed to revise two panels of the preliminary map issued to Clark County in response to inaccuracy found during our review. The inaccuracy is associated with the use of data pulled from a USGS 10-foot contour map in ways that took the next-highest contour line around the lake on this Approximate A Zone designation, effectively showing the BFE about five foot higher than is should have been based on data in Jackson County .
For record, the Lake Arbutus inferred BFE is 884.9 at the dam, with roughly 0.7 foot of gradient upstream about one mile to the reservoir’s mouth. The FERC-established normal pool is 882.5. Photo-rectified pool for Lake Arbutus is 883.0 as shown on USGS maps. The FEMA-DNR team also agreed on two related actions in follow-up: 1. FEMA (CDM) will contact the Clark County Zoning Office (Steve Coons) to make sure that we have received all topo data available at this time; and 2. the DNR will look at all lakes along the roughly 100 miles of new Approximate A Zone stream threads to determine whether conditions similar to lake Arbutus are present elsewhere in this DFIRM. The LFD for this map is project to be July 15, a delay of four months on earlier schedules due to an eleventh hour BFE notification requirement, and complicated by the stoppage of all Federal Register notices until sometime in early April. =========================================================================================== A conference call was held on Thursday March 19, 2009 between representatives of FEMA, CDM and WDNR concerning the preliminary 100-year floodplain elevation proposed around Lake Arbutus in Clark County . It was determined that the flood elevation shown on the revised floodplain maps was incorrect. Basically, this was a result of a faulty boundary condition which was used as a starting point for determining the flood elevation. It was decided that a new map panel will be created for the area around Lake Arbutus in question, that will more closely resemble the elevation currently used by the local zoning officials.
It should be noted that this new map will not change the floodplain elevations in the upper reaches of receiving streams to Lake Arbutus (Arnolds Creek, East Fork of Black River) but there will be options for those folks who believe that they are not in the floodplain to apply for a LOMR (letter of map revision).
Because of problems with publication of the required BFE (base flood elevation) notice FEMA determined it was necessary to delay the publication of the Letter of Final Determination to a later time period. This will greatly benefit the Lake Arbutus situation as it will allow time to incorporate the new map panels before the maps are published.
|
Thank you for contacting me regarding the adjusted floodplain map for the Hatfield area that is being proposed by FEMA. I had not heard of the issue until you expressed your concerns early this week. I greatly appreciate the time you took to email me and want to provide an update. I have been working together with Representative Radcliffe's office, local officials, the DNR and US Senator Russ Feingold to learn more about this important issue. I have been informed that the March 25, 2009 Letter of Final Determination will mark the beginning of a six month window of opportunity the County has to adopt the new map into their floodplain zoning ordinance. This is not the end of the process. In addition, I have learned from Mark Stephenson of the DNR office in Black River Falls that a conference call will be taking place on Monday to discuss possible errors on the proposed map. This call will take place between FEMA's District 5 Regional office, the company contracted to design the map, and the DNR's Central Wisconsin Office. I do not have specifics on this meeting or its potential outcome. I would be more than happy to share any details I learn over the next few days. I hope you find this information helpful. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue of importance to you. Sincerely, Kathleen Vinehout State Senator 31st Senate District
To all property owners on or near Lake Arbutus. Please read the following message from Ralph Johnson. Ralphs message is addressed to the town of Dewhurst residents, but it affects everyone around Lake Arbutus. You need to act ASAP. Dear above local political representatives, neighbors and property owners and body else that I can think of in the town of Dewhurst. Attached please find four maps - Current East Map, Current West Map, New East Map, New West Map. On the old maps look for the light blue line that follows the shore. Then look at the purple line on the new maps and you will see that most of your properties are in the New Floodplain. My name is Ralph Johnson and I live in Clark County on Lake Arbutus in Hatfield, Wisconsin. Yesterday (3/15/2009), it was brought to my attention that FEMA has determined that 210 additional structures in the Town of Dewhurst are in the floodplain. Currently there are 63 structures in the floodplain and this will make it 273. Almost every home on Lake arbutus and Arnold Creek will be in the Floodplain. A lot of you know where my home is on Lake Arbutus - N 96 Pine Place. I am now in the floodplain. My home sits 5 to 6 feet above the normal lake level. The normal lake level is 882.5 feet and the new gates on the West end of the dam for flood control, that were installed over the last three years, have about 6 inches before the water goes over the gates, which can be lowered about 6 feet. These gates total over 350 feet in length, in addition to these, there are 9 Tainter gates that total over 200 feet in length that are in place for flood protection. I do not know where FEMA came up with their map of our area, but it does not look like anyone was ever here to actually see our beautiful area. There were a series of meetings since the Fall of 2006 in regards to this change in floodplain. I do not remember hearing of them, but they had them. Now the Letter of Final Determination is March 25^th , 2009. Yes 9 days from now. What this means is that we have to try to get our elected officials to help us get this Letter of Final Determination put on hold until somebody can actually review the map and meet with the people in charge. I think we all have to be aware of what happens when a structure is in the floodplain: 1. If you have a mortgage, which most of us do, your lending institution will probably demand that you have flood insurance and it is not cheap. 2. For the above reason and the stigma of being in a floodplain, property values will probably go down. 3. The map is just wrong and did not get local input. 4. And you can add many more of your own. Steve Kunze at Clark County has the current map and the proposed map. Most of the homes on Arnold Creek and a long way up Lake Arbutus towards Highway 95 will be in the floodplain. I have a lot of contact information that follows for you property owners. Please contact any or all of these and express your opinions. We need action today and not tomorrow if we have any chance of postponing the Letter of Final Determination. Please send this to all of your neighbors in case we do not have their email address. It is better to get it more than once than not at all. US Senator: Herb Kohl / John Medinger - Local contact - (608) 796-0045 medinger@kohl.senate.gov <mailto:medinger@kohl.senate.gov> US Congressman: Ron Kind / Karrie Jackelen - Asst. 608-782-2558 karrie.jackelen@mail.house.gov <mailto:karrie.jackelen@mail.house.gov> State Senator: Kathleen Vinehout 877-763-6636 sen.vinehout@legis.wisconsin.gov <mailto:sen.vinehout@legis.wisconsin.gov> State Representative: Mark Radcliffe 888-534-0092 rep.radcliffe@legis.wisconsin.gov <mailto:rep.radcliffe@legis.wisconsin.gov> Clark County Zoning: Steve Kunze 715-743-5130 steve.kunze@co.clark.wi.us <mailto:steve.kunze@co.clark.wi.us> Jackson County Zoning: Terry Schmidt 715-284-0220 terry.schmidt@co.jackson.wi.us <mailto:terry.schmidt@co.jackson.wi.us> Mark Stevenson - DNR - Black River Falls 715-284-1418 mark.stephenson@wisconsin.gov <mailto:mark.stephenson@wisconsin.gov> Dan Helsel - DNR - Black River Falls 715-284-1431 daniel.helsel@wisconsin.gov <mailto:daniel.helsel@wisconsin.gov> Do not leave this up to your neighbors, call email and write to the people above. These are our homes. Ralph E. Johnson Vice-President - Lake Arbutus Association N96 Pine Place Hatfield, WI 54754 Office 715-333-8037 Cell 715-299-5263 Cheezman@centurytel.net Fax 715-333-8010
