HUBBARD Council eyes plan on flood damage

The flood area is generally along Mud Run, through the middle of Hubbard.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HUBBARD -- City council is likely to approve a flood damage prevention program.
Lawmakers will consider an ordinance creating the program when council meets July 16.
David Kelly, assistant city engineer, said the program generally is designed to ban construction in flood-plain areas to prevent buildings from being damaged during flooding.
Kelly said the creek known as Mud Run runs north-south through the center of the community.
The run, which dumps into Harding Lake at the south end of town, has been designated a flood plain by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources program is an effort to protect consumers from buying houses or other buildings that could flood.
Must obtain permit: If a contractor wants to put up a building in the flood plain, a flood hazard area development permit must be obtained from the city.
An inspection will then be done to determine that the property is above the flood plain. If so, a building permit can be issued.
If it's found that a structure there could flood because of the low elevation, the city won't issue a building permit.
Flood permits are not required outside the flood plain.
Those building within the flood plain without first receiving a flood permit, Kelly explained, will be charged with a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
Kelly said he doesn't expect much construction in the flood plain since most of the land can't be used because of the lay of the land.
Steve Ferryman, environmental specialist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Water Floodplain Management Program, said the city joined that National Flood Insurance Program in 1978.
The flood damage prevention program has become a part of the insurance program.
Qualifying for insurance: Ferryman said those who constructed buildings, including houses, anywhere in Hubbard before August 1978 qualify for federally subsidized flood insurance.
They don't have to be within the flood plain, he said.
Those who built after August 1978 can get flood insurance separate from homeowner's insurance. The cost depends on the lowest level of the structure compared with the 100-year flood level, he said.
The average flood insurance premium in Hubbard, including those with federal subsidies, is $354 a year. The average policy cost in Ohio is $400 annually.
Ferryman said the premium could be less for those who built before 1978 because of the federal subsidy.
yovich@vindy.com