Foss Creek floodplain change a potential windfall for landowners

A drastic reduction in the Foss Creek flood plain designation is
expected to save hundreds of property owners in the region hundreds
to thousands of dollars in flood insurance.
Healdsburg officials learned last month that the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had approved an application to
greatly reduce the flood plain boundaries around Foss Creek after
the city submitted hydrology studies showing that numerous creek
projects mitigated the threat of flooding. Many property owners
with parcels inside the old flood zone but outside the new are
likely no longer required by lenders to carry the
insurance—estimated at $800 to $2,000, or more.
“Property owners can contact us and we can help with the
documentation they can take to their lender,” said Mike Kirn, the
city of Healdsburg’s director of public works. “We should be able
to help most folks.”
While situations will vary from property to property, Kirn
offered a general example of who may be eligible to drop coverage.
“If you aren’t immediately fronting Foss Creek, and you were
required to get flood insurance before, most likely you won’t have
to get flood insurance today,” he said.
A detailed floodplain map is available online at the city’s
public works webpage, or by searching for “Healdsburg Floodplain
Mapping” in an internet search engine like Google.
The former floodplain covered much of the properties west of
Foss Creek to Highway 101 between the Central Healdsburg off-ramp
north to West Grant. Most of that land is no longer part of the
floodplain. Changes also significantly reduced the floodplain along
Foss Creek from West Grant north to Chiquita Road.
The original floodplain, drawn up decades ago, was “broad” and
not based on a specific hydrology study, according to city senior
engineer Mario Landeros. “It was a poor interpretation, I would
say,” he said.
The updated floodplain has been some 25 years in the making. In
the mid-80s the city began a series of projects aimed at mitigating
the dangers of flooding along Foss Creek during heavy rains.
The effort began with a detention basin on Grove
Street—infrastructure designed to hold excess water and release it
slowly back into the creek when water levels exceed a certain
height. Next came a project that expanded the volume capacity of
the creek itself and a new concrete lining on the creek’s sides and
bottom from North Street north to the Sanderson Ford property.
In the mid-90s the city completed a series of culvert projects,
increasing the flow capacity throughout the creek. The city then
built a duel 60-inch Reinforced Concrete Pipe that begin at the
5-way intersection at Vine Street and end behind Sanderson Ford—a
diversion that keeps excess water from flooding the Foss Creek.
The city’s final piece to the Foss Creek mitigation plan was a
second detention basic—this one behind Parkland Farms near the old
RJW lumber mill. Like the first basin at Grove Street, the second
can hold 75 acre feet of water at a time and is designed to slowly
release the water into the stream to reduce the chance of
flooding.
Once the projects were completed the city submitted hydrology
studies to FEMA and requested the floodplain be reevaluated. In
August FEMA sent word that the changes had been made.
With the changes made, word has begun circulating throughout the
Healdsburg community that some property owners may be able to save
themselves thousands in unnecessary flood insurance. Eric Drew,
owner of Healdsburg Sotheby’s International Realty, has followed
the process for years and is actively informing fellow property
owners of the change.
“There were apparently quite a few legal notices, but you tend
not to read off of the legal notices and catch everything,” he
said. “This has been going a long, long time.”
Drew estimated that flood insurance costs anywhere from $800 to
thousands of dollars and says many owners are required to purchase
it—perceived danger or not—if they borrow money from lenders who
are federally insured.