Flood zone owners in Dewey may get relief

Dewey property owners with nonconforming structures in the town’s flood zones may soon be able to raise their homes to prevent future flood damage – without waiting for a flood.

During a March 18 meeting, Dewey planning commissioners unanimously agreed to move forward to council a change in code that permits raising nonconforming houses located in flood zones, which is currently not allowed.

This is a touchy subject, said planning commission Chair Mike Harmer, but the town is trying to find the balance between house protection and neighbors losing their views.

As proposed, in the FEMA-regulated flood zones of town, property owners would be allowed to raise nonconforming structures to the base flood elevation plus the town’s 1-foot freeboard.

Commissioner Jim Dedes said this could provide some relief for a significant portion of Dewey property owners. He said it’s been estimated that 60 percent to 80 percent of the structures in the town’s flood zones are nonconforming because they don’t meet setback requirements.

None of the commission members had anything negative to say about the proposal, and no property owners spoke during the public hearing.

Commissioner Jim Bielicki said if there were tremendous concern about the change more people would have attended the hearing. Instead, there was one member of the public in attendance, but he said he and his wife had just bought a property in Snug Harbor and was just there to watch.

Mayor Dale Cooke attended; he asked the commissioners what their response would be to a property owner with a nonconforming structure who wanted to raise the structure high enough to allow parking underneath.

Dedes said the measure is designed to prevent flood damage, not to increase parking. In addition to reducing flooding damage for an individual house, he said the change could add points to the town’s community flood rating used by the National Flood Insurance Program, which could decrease the cost of flood insurance for all property owners.

The one area of discussion among the group focused on bringing nonconforming structures into compliance.

Commissioner Marty Seitz said there should be some wording to require code compliance for property owners taking advantage of the change. The goal should be to move nonconforming buildings toward compliance, he said.

In general, the other commission members agreed with the idea, but the group ultimately decided against it after town attorney Noel Primos said it could cause legal issues for the town.

Seitz said he recognized potential problems, but he didn’t want the thought of bringing structures into compliance to be lost. He said a program incentivizing the property owner could be added.

The proposal now moves to town commissioners for discussion. As of March 20, the agenda for the April 8 town council meeting had not been posted.