Erin Cooper
“My son was in fourth grade (when we moved in) and he could actually jump across the creek,” Walling said.
By 2007, however, Walling said the width of the creek had begun to expand.
“(The creek) can hold water now and before it never could,” Walling said.
Walling, along with other Briarwood residents Brian Allen and Lisa Sullivan, began to fear for what they had invested thousands of dollars in – their homes.
Sullivan said that when she and her husband purchased their home in 2011, the survey stated that their property was in the 100-year floodplain. A copy of the survey shows that zones A and B lie within the 100-year floodplain and that zone C is subject to “areas of minimal flooding.”
Even though the couple was aware of at least a portion of their property being inside the floodplain, they never thought it would affect their dwelling.
“When we bought the house we were told by the owner, surveyor and the closer that only the far back of the property was in a flood zone, not the house too,” Sullivan said. “There isn’t anything on the survey near the house itself showing a flood plain, only behind the house.”
The brick and mortar part of Sullivan’s home was discovered to also lie in the floodplain around 2008, she said. Several other neighbors found the same results, she said.
The shock and disappointment felt by homeowners in the Briarwood subdivision has now turned into a nearly four-year battle to seek answers and resolve floodplain and erosion issues with the City of Weatherford.
Residents confront truth
In February 2008, Walling sent an email to an employee at the City of Weatherford, explaining what was occurring at her property.
“My concern is that all the building going on behind my property is going to cause more problems,” Walling wrote. “Spring rains are coming, and I don’t want the creek to damage my property any further. All the land behind me is being raised up a significant amount and all the run off will come downhill into the creek and flood us out!”
Within 24 hours the City of Weatherford had generated a response, which stated that the new development was not the cause of flooding.
The letter stated that the new subdivision located west of Walling’s property, known as Town Creek Addition, and the drainage it would eventually generate would not be conveyed into Holland Lake Creek behind her home, then-Director of Community Development Terry Hughes said.
Hughes wrote in the email that Walling’s lot was located in the FEMA 100-year flood zone, which made it subject to “storm water inundation during rain events.”
The fact that her home was located in a floodplain would become crucial to Walling’s future plans for her home.
“I was trying to refinance my home when the rates dropped, and it wouldn’t pass,” Walling said.
Walling has a copy of her original survey, which states, effective Sept. 14, 1990, that the “property does not lie within a 100-year flood hazard area.”
Being in a floodplain can cause all sorts of other problems, for example, having to buy flood insurance.
But, for Sullivan, flood insurance itself was not an issue. Something much bigger was bothering her.
“My home has been paid for since about 2006, prior to when the mortgage companies were advised by FEMA around 2008 to require flood insurance on all loan holders whose homes are in a floodplain,” Sullivan said. “My neighbors were suddenly required to have flood insurance as of approximately 2010 or 2011.
“Never before has anyone had to pay flood insurance along this street on their homes. We would have had to pay, but with no mortgage we were never notified – only by neighbors.”
Sullivan claims that this crucial information was never released to homebuyers.
“It was never disclosed on the original surveys or plat maps, prior to construction, so in turn, the buyers, real estate agents, title companies, mortgage companies, etc. did not know – just as ‘we’ the consumers did not know,” Sullivan said. “Otherwise we would have been required to pay flood insurance as of the day of purchase.”
Public Affairs Specialist for FEMA Region 6 Jacqueline Sue Aguigui Chandler said there is a “nationwide, collaborative effort across all levels of government to update the nation’s flood hazard data.”
A Map Modernization program was launched by FEMA in 2004. Parker County received map updates in 2008, which became effective in September of that year.
While the notification of Briarwood homes within the 100-year floodplain coincided with the updated maps, residents like Sullivan believe the problem began before 2008.
“No one ever knew these homes were underwater because the ‘responsible parties’ never pulled the floodplain maps when the plats and surveys were made. Any surveyor or developer would know to check property flood maps if the property were near a lake or creek,” Sullivan said. “The city surveyor and engineer should have made an inspection of the development proposal before the city council approved and signed it upon finding that the homes were going to be constructed in a floodplain. The city surveyor or engineer should have made the construction surveyor disclose that information.
“This compromises the integrity of our city since they approved this construction,” Sullivan said.
The city’s side
According to James Hotopp, director of water/wastewater and engineering utilities, however, the homes located in the Briarwood subdivision have always been located in the floodplain.
“The floodplain does go through a portion of the subdivision,” Hotopp said. “Every FEMA map I have seen shows the floodplain through there – it’s nothing new that the floodplain goes through there.”
Due to homeowner concerns in Briarwood, the city hired an engineering firm, Baird, Hampton and Brown, to investigate.
“We (the city) actually went out and had a study done by a local engineer,” Hotopp said. “He did a hydrolic analysis of the floodplain – could it convey the water safely without it basically inundating other areas outside the 100-year floodplain – and based on that analysis, it could.”
Residents, such as Walling and Sullivan, have attributed the increased amount of water flow to additional development within the city limits – including the Weatherford Ridge and Weatherford Marketplace shopping centers — and the improvements made to the adult softball fields at Holland Lake Park.
While Hotopp admits that some additional water may be diverted down the creek due to development, he said it is nothing to be concerned about.
“Will the water increase?” Hotopp said. “Yes, the amount of water will increase as development comes in, but the floodplain can handle that, based on this study.”
Sullivan claims there is a FEMA-issued map that portrays houses under water in the floodplain. Hotopp, however, said there is not an official FEMA map, called a FIRM map, that shows houses on it. It merely shows the boundaries of the floodplain.
“We (the city) have (a map) with the homes from when we generated the flood study,” Hotopp said. “That is what we submitted to FEMA to get their approval to correct the map.
Not soon enough
The map Hotopp refers to was part of a package submitted to FEMA in order to obtain corrected maps for home owners in Briarwood, known as a Letter of Map Revision Floodway, or a LOMR-F.
A copy of the LOMR-F certificate, which was provided by Walling, was sent to homeowners once accepted by FEMA and could, essentially, reduce their flood insurance rates by confirming the homes are, in fact, out of the floodplain.
“There was no requirement we had to do that, we just did it to help them out,” Hotopp said.
The LOMR-F states in fine print that FEMA “determined that the structure(s) on the property(ies) is/are not located in the NFIP regulatory floodway or the SFHA, an area inundated by the flood having a 1-percent annual chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.”
The document states it is a revision to the NFIP map and removes the property from the regulatory floodway and the SFHA on the effective map. Due to the properties being removed, they were no longer required to carry mandatory federal flood insurance.
The engineering study the city paid for confirmed the houses in Briarwood were built outside of the floodplain, Hotopp said.
“The houses are built out of the floodplain,” Hotopp said. “We’ve told the residents that, and that is what that independent study confirmed.”
But for some homeowners, particularly Walling, it is too late.
Walling said she had to pay more than $300 for an individual to perform an elevation study on her house in 2010 in order to get her flood insurance rate reduced.
The elevation certificate Walling paid for in 2010 states that her home’s lowest adjacent (finished) grade is 961.6 feet and it expires next month. The lowest adjacent grade for Walling’s home on the LOMR-F, however, is placed at 962.2 feet.
Walling, who said she has attempted to contact several people to help her in her situation, was told by one lawyer that her house would have to be flooded before she could file any kind of legal documents against the city or home builders.
“When I get flooded, then I will have a lawsuit,” Walling said.
Another issue for Walling, however, is that in order for the flood insurance she currently carries on her home to be effective, more than one home in her neighborhood, or a specified amount of property surrounding her home, must flood, too.
“If I have flood insurance and I get flooded and nobody else does, my flood insurance is no good,” Walling said. “They really ruined our investment.”
Walling feels that she is at a loss because she cannot obtain help from legal counsel, she said. She also feels that her house is not sellable because potential buyers would change their minds once they discovered the flooding issues on her land.
“I thought I covered all my bases,” Walling said. “What else do you do when you have a legal document and you think you are safe? I am a school teacher, I am single and I have raised my son – I invested everything in my house.”
- See more at: http://www.weatherforddemocrat.com/local/x318440416/Water-woes-on-floodplain-in-Weatherford#sthash.8YIk64mY.dpuf