Camden County homeowners get one-year reprieve from flood of hassle

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. - A costly hassle is coming for lakefront homeowners in Camden County, but it will take a year longer than anticipated.

Camden County officials expected to receive a Letter of Finalization from the Federal Emergency Management Agency confirming the effective date of April 19, 2010, for new flood maps impacting lakefront property owners within the county. But April 19 came and went; still no letter.

The same day, an engineer from FEMA’s Kansas City regional office confirmed to LakeExpo.com that the effective date of the new flood maps in Camden County has been extended for a minimum of 10 months, and probably longer.

FEMA was apparently unaware the City of Camdenton changed its corporate boundaries to include an area eligible to appeal the new flood maps. Previously FEMA believed the area in question lay only within unincorporated Camden County. This issue has required FEMA to offer an additional period of appeal to the City of Camdenton only for the area of the Niangua Arm it incorporated, north of the Highway 54 Bridge along the Niangua Arm extending near Big Isle.

FEMA has yet to set an official date to begin the appeal process, according to FEMA District 7 engineer Rick Nusz. However, once the date is set, statute dictates the appeal period last 90 days before moving to resolution. Once appeals are resolved, a Final Letter of Determination is sent with an effective date exactly six months from the date of the letter for official flood map implementation.

FEMA closed the appeal process for the rest of Camden County in June 2009.

Since then, complaints from lake area property owners have come into the county planning administrator’s office. Apparently, property owners were unaware of the new mapping or did not come forward with a case to the county previous to the appeal deadline.

“I didn’t even know until July (2009) we had residents with a problem,” planning administrator Chris Hall said. Since then, Hall has worked diligently to address the concerns of lakefront property owners, especially those from the Niangua Arm, the most dramatically impacted area at Lake of the Ozarks. In some cases on the Niangua, FEMA’s new maps have Base Flood Elevations as high as 668-669. “That puts pretty much everything south of the Highway 54 Bridge in a flood zone,” Hall said.

Camden County has already hired a geo-hydrologist to study the area. Depending on the results, a request may be filed with FEMA to reprint two or three panels of the new flood map. Two of the panels are for Lake of the Ozarks on the Niangua Arm and one for the Niangua River.

“I think the base flood elevation has been drawn too high in that area and we want them (FEMA) to address that,” Hall said.

According to Hall, this request can be made outside the formal appeal process.

However, if the City of Camdenton does produce sufficient evidence to convince FEMA to make changes to the new flood maps in its incorporated area of the Niangua, then it is likely that those changes would support Camden County’s argument for reconsideration in additional areas along the tributary.

“If you change part of a tributary, then you pretty much have work your way up the tributary,” Hall said. “If you prove it for one part of the tributary, you prove it for the entire area.”

While the argument is very much hypothetical, since FEMA is yet to consider anything from the City of Camdenton, the result of undeniable evidence which may be brought during the appeal process could in the long-term, over years, mean many areas of the Niangua might be remapped by FEMA with high Base Flood Elevations of 664-665, consistent with most of the areas along the main channel of the lake.

Hall considers this to be a legitimate possibility.

Why should lakefront homeowners care?

Money.

New flood maps have been a catalyst for costly homeowner hassle in Morgan and Miller counties, where FEMA’s new maps around Lake of the Ozarks have already become effective. Almost immediately, national lenders like Wells Fargo, Citi and Chase began reassessing existing loans along the waterfront in 2009. In several cases the issue has delayed refinancing and thrown a left-handed monkey wrench into the real estate sales process.

Homeowners on the water began getting unwanted surprises from financiers one-by-one. Letters from Wells Fargo, Citi, Chase and other lenders have been sent to inform mortgage loan customers they are required to purchase flood insurance within 30 days. Flood insurance can only be purchased as a 12-month pre-paid premium at an expense of between $1,000-$5000 a year depending on the value of the property.

Ultimately, it does not matter whether or not a home in question is three or 30 feet above the new base flood elevation set by FEMA. If the dots connected by the new map cut through a piece of property without regard for grade or elevation, which they do, the home is in flood zone until FEMA says it’s not. The third-party and in-house flood determination companies, relied upon by national banks, are lumping structures into a flood zone based on the fact that lakefront properties touch the lake’s flood plain, instead of actually contracting engineers to survey property. Flood determination companies are not wavering on their analysis in most cases and banks by policy are requiring nothing less than a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) from FEMA to lift the flood insurance requirement.

The only way for a homeowner to get FEMA to admit to inaccuracies within the agency’s flood maps is by hiring an engineer to complete an elevation survey and submitting the necessary paperwork to FEMA for a LOMA.

To successfully complete the LOMA process, property owners will have to submit a Property Information Form, a county tax assessor’s map, county certified deed, a FEMA Elevation Certificate and consistent Elevation Form to have been completed by an engineer. If the elevation survey and paperwork is completed by an engineering firm, it will likely cost between $500-$1,000.

The LOMA process through FEMA can take 60-90 days, far longer than most banks are allowing for homeowners to show proof of flood insurance when reassessing existing loans (usually 30 days). Failure to purchase flood insurance pending a LOMA can in most cases constitute a breach of mortgage contract.

If the lowest adjacent grade of the lake resident’s home is above FEMA’s new base flood elevation and an elevation survey proves it, the cost of successfully obtaining a LOMA is well worth the savings from avoiding the payment of annual flood insurance premiums.

If a homeowner successfully receives a LOMA, their annual flood insurance premiums should be refunded. However, this is not always the case, so homeowners should clarify the issue with their insurance agent before buying the flood policy.

In the end, a LOMA gives the homeowner an ultimate trump card over any underwriter or flood determination company getting in the way of a home sale or refinance.

If you are a lakefront property owner, “It’s almost certain you will need the letter (LOMA),” Hall said. “Treat it as a standard document you will need on this lake.”