SCOTT COUNTY ORDINANCES WILL NOT ALLOW FOR BASEMENTS

BENTON -- Buddy Alberson just wants to build a house with a basement on his land. As things stand now the basement is not allowed by Scott County ordinances.

County commissioners learned Tuesday that ordinance helps the county remain eligible for a flood insurance program which currently has some 292 unincorporated Scott County resident policyholders with nearly $19 million in combined coverage.

George Riedel, floodplain management manager for the Missouri Department of Public Safety Emergency Management Agency, is an advisor who helps counties stay in compliance with the minimum criteria to remain eligible for the flood insurance program.

Tuesday he told commissioners, "The county has an ordinance they have to enforce to stay in compliance," said Riedel.

Not complying may jeopardize their status in the national flood insurance program, Riedel said, and possibly raise insurance rates for all unincorporated Scott County residents or, worse yet, making residents ineligible for flood insurance coverage.

The minimum elevation for structures in the county is based on a 1987 Federal Emergency Management Agency map that evaluates on the basis of a 100-year flood level and is mandated by the county ordinance which is required to join the national flood insurance program.

FEMA used a "real simplified method to come up with base flood elevation," according to Riedel, although a more refined 100-year flood elevation would only lower the base flood level to an elevation of 317 or 318 feet from 320 feet above sea level, he estimated.

The present elevation will remain in effect, however, "until somebody changes the maps with technical data," said Riedel.

Riedel said Alberson may request a letter map amendment from FEMA which, if the property is demonstrated to be above the 100-year floodplain based on natural conditions, may persuade FEMA to remove the property from the flood plain. This would make Alberson's construction exempt from the county ordinance.

The alternative is a letter map revision in which the ground is artificially raised with fill dirt to a elevation above the base flood plain.