Flood Mitigation Projects Delayed As Additional Funding Sought
(From the City of Findlay)
The Maumee Watershed Conservancy District, Hancock County Commissioners, and Findlay, Mayor Christina Muryn submitted a letter to Findlay City Council requesting support for an application to the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant. The letter outlines the progress on flood mitigation which has been made over the past ten years and how the final three projects are making progress.
The initial target for ground breaking on each project, the expansion of the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge, Eagle Creek Detention Basin, and the Phase II River Benching was expected this year. Due to increased estimated construction costs the group is now delaying that timeline to seek additional Federal financial support of approximately $20MM.
“Maumee Watershed Conservancy District, the Hancock County Commissioners, and the Mayor Muryn are all dedicated to completing the flood mitigation projects as soon as possible. We agreed that pushing back the timeline slightly was frustrating but the opportunity to receive the financial support was worth the wait.” – Maumee Watershed Conservancy District General Manager, Wendy Yunker
“The Hancock County Commissioners all understand how critical flood mitigation is to Hancock County and look forward to completing the final three projects over the next few years and seeing the hundreds of acres and thousands of parcels which will be removed from the floodplain.” – Bill Bateson, Hancock County Commissioner
“Hancock County has made significant progress towards decreasing the flood risk in Hancock County and moving closer to making the river an asset rather than a liability. We will all keep pushing to get these projects complete and bring taxpayer dollars back from Washington to do so.” – Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn.
In 2023, FEMA released a notice of funding for the Flood Mitigation Assistance grant. FEMA requires a member of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to be an applicant for the funding opportunity. The City of Findlay is a member of NFIP and therefore will be the applicant of record to request $20MM to be utilized for the flood mitigation efforts detailed below.
In November 2009, the voters of Hancock County passed a .25% sales tax to be utilized for flood mitigation. The sales tax generated more than $32,000,000 over a ten-year period. In addition, our community has received financial support from the Federal and State Governments. Local, State and Federal investments have supported the completion of the following: purchase of properties which had regular significant damage due to flooding, transportation corridor improvements to ensure safety service accessibility throughout the county and phase 1 benching. In addition to the projects completed there are three major projects in the design phase; widening of the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge from 150’ to 300’, the Eagle Creek Flood Basin and Phase 2 Benching east of the Norfolk Southern bridge. Following the completion of the benching projects, NS bridge expansion and the Eagle Creek Basin there will be a decrease of flood waters by 3ft in downtown Findlay during a 100-year storm event as well as the removal of hundreds of parcels and hundreds of acres of tillable farmland from the 100-year flood plain.
