Another box to check to clear FEMA grant

FINDLAY — Turns out there's another box to check before federal officials sign off on the $24 million grant needed to begin construction on Findlay-Hancock County's flood mitigation projects. On Friday, Mayor Christina Muryn said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is waiting for Findlay City Council to approve Hancock County's recently updated natural hazard mitigation plan before the grant agreement will be executed. Legislation is expected to be introduced to council at its regular meeting on Tuesday to approve the natural hazard plan, and Muryn has asked council to rush it through. "Though it is not ideal, I respectfully request adoption of this legislation on Tuesday so that it may be provided to FEMA. The county commissioners already adopted the plan," Muryn said in an email sent to city leaders Friday morning. Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Findlay Municipal Building, 318 Dorney Plaza. All council meetings are open to the public and are livestreamed on the city's YouTube channel: Findlay Ohio. Officials have been working for nearly a year to update the natural hazards plan, part of the requirements for federal emergency funding in the event of a disaster. It must be updated every five years. The Hancock Regional Planning Commission is in charge of updating the plan. The goal of the plan is to improve local response to natural hazards. Each jurisdiction in Hancock County will be asked to adopt the final plan via legislation. Failure to adopt the plan will result in the jurisdiction being ineligible for funding from FEMA. Floods, tornadoes and severe storms top the list for high potential of occurrence and severity of impact. The ability to mitigate flood damage has the most potential, according to the update. New to the plan this year are goals that would improve tornado response, including improved radar coverage capable of early warning tornado detection to include low-level tornadoes, below 7,000 feet. Installing an Integrated Public Alert and Warning System has also been added to the list. IPAWS is a national system managed by FEMA in the United States. Its primary purpose is to provide authenticated emergency and life-saving information to the public quickly and efficiently. Money from the FEMA flood mitigation grant will be used to help fund the construction of the $75 million Eagle Creek flood basin and provide $5 million for continued benching of the Blanchard River. The state of Ohio has already awarded $60 million from its 2022-23 operating budget to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for the construction of the basin. In the email to city leaders, Muryn said paperwork for a $7.1 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration is also moving. The grant will help pay for the cost of replacing the aging Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge over the Blanchard River in downtown Findlay. Once signed, Muryn said the Maumee Watershed Conservancy District, Defiance, will be able to sign the construction work agreement with Norfolk Southern. It's the last of the paperwork needed to put the project out for bid, she said. The current bridge, built in the early 1900s, restricts water flow during high river levels. The new design will double the bridge span from 150 to 300 feet and raise its elevation, allowing for better water passage and reducing flood levels by an estimated 0.3 feet at Main Street during a 100-year storm event. The county will pay $5 million towards the construction of the bridge, which will account for most of the balance of the local flood mitigation fund. Findlay will pay $4.6 million. In 2009, Hancock County voters approved a 10-year, 0.25% additional sales tax to pay for flood mitigation. The additional sales tax generated about $32 million over 10 years. Last week, Muryn said bid documents are ready to go on the projects, and meetings have already been held with prospective contractors. Flood mitigation efforts along the Blanchard River at Findlay are expected to remove about half of the 5,000 properties from the 100-year floodplain in Hancock County.