Lewis County commissioners are looking to delay the release of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s preliminary flood maps to see if changes can be made to a map they fear may significantly expand the floodplain and floodway.
“There’s not very much time to formulate a challenge,” County Prosecutor Michael Golden told commissioners during a weekly meeting on Wednesday. “There’s no way before March 15 to bring a consultant on board to study the maps.”
Golden told commissioners the county may challenge the release date of the maps due to FEMA not following their own guidelines for meeting with county and city officials before technical and scientific data would be needed to make changes to their pre-draft maps.
County, Centralia and Chehalis officials met with FEMA last month, however Commissioner Bill Schulte said the meeting was neither helpful nor informative.
A pre-draft map released to county and city officials last month showed the floodplain and floodway had reached far beyond the borders of the previously adopted 1981 maps. County and Twin Cities officials said the expansion could have long-term negative impacts if they are finalized.
Once the maps are released, there is a 30-day comment period, followed by a 90-day appeal period. After sorting through the appeals and finalizing the maps, FEMA will give the county and cities six months to adopt the maps.
Golden warned commissioners, however, that embroiling the county in litigation against FEMA will be an expensive undertaking.
“There’s a lot at stake for the county,” he said. “To challenge any issue will be expensive. You will have to bring in experts to their experts.”
Commissioner Ron Averill said there was not much financial flexibility within the county budget and said Chehalis and Centralia should be sought out to see if they want to shoulder some of the costs. He added costs reaching into the “six digits” may be the limit.
“But the risks are great enough to bring in rationale if we can,” Averill said.
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Marqise Allen: (360) 807-8237
