ROCKLAND, Maine — The city has won its federal appeal of proposed new flood zone maps that threatened to sharply increase insurance rates and hamper the ability to develop some key areas of Rockland’s waterfront.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency notified Rockland officials on Sept. 30 that it had agreed to reclassify areas previously labeled as being at higher risk of flooding. FEMA reconsidered after reviewing additional scientific data provided by the city through its consultant Robert Gerber of Ransom Consulting, Inc.
FMC Corp. also submitted an appeal along with the city. The company has a manufacturing plant that was almost entirely placed in the most extreme flood zone in initial maps submitted to the city in 2013.
“From the beginning all I was hoping for was accurate maps,” Rockland Code Enforcement Officer John Root said Friday. “I am pleased these maps are much more accurate.”
The preliminary maps sent to the city by FEMA in 2013 projected that there was a 1 percent chance in any given year that parts of Rockland would be under several feet of ocean water. For example, FEMA originally predicted the possibility of a 100-year flood that would see the water level rise to 14 feet above the mean tide in Lermond’s Cove, which is situated between FMC and the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Mean tide refers to the tide level halfway between the average high and low tides. On the east side of FMC, FEMA predicted the possibility of a 100-year flood 19 feet above the mean tide.
Once finalized, the maps, which are intended to show areas most at risk of flooding, are used to regulate how landowners can build on their property and to determine whether they need to purchase increasingly costly flood insurance.
In a flood zone, the lowest level of a building must be at least one foot higher than the base flood level. The same holds true if existing buildings undergo substantial renovations or additions. In the areas at risk of damage due to storm-induced wave action — which the initial maps concluded were much of the waterfront — buildings must be built on posts or have blow-out panels as part of the construction to allow flood waters to pass through without destroying the structure. There currently are no buildings that have been constructed this way in Rockland. Two restaurants are located on piers.
And the extension of flood zones to already developed areas would have meant that those property owners would need to purchase flood insurance if they have a mortgage that is backed by the federal government. Flood insurance for properties even partially in a flood zone could see their premiums increase tenfold.
Stretches of the city’s waterfront — from Snow Marine park to the public landing north to where Prock Marine operates — would have been the most affected based on the initial maps. Three downtown Main Street buildings near the ferry terminal would have been added to the flood zones.
The initial maps for Rockland had shifted the boundaries considered at risk of flooding about 100 feet inland from the current maps developed in 1989.
The new maps, however, sharply reduce, from the originally proposed maps, the areas prone to flooding. Nearly all of the FMC property is removed from the high risk flood zone. The section of Rockland where North End Shipyard is located also was removed from the high-risk zone, as was nearly all of Snow Marine Park.
The new maps are nearly the same as the existing maps that have been in place for more than 25 years in terms of what properties are in flood zones.
Root, the local code officer, said that in its appeal, the city provided much more detailed information than FEMA had been using to determine flood plains. In addition, he said the new maps take into account the impact that the Rockland Breakwater has on reducing wave impact along the shore.