Asheville Reporter

County of Haywood issued the following announcement on Mar. 15.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) has received the following application for Federal grant funding. Notice is hereby given of FEMA’s consideration to provide funding in the form of a Hazard Mitigation Grant.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), federal actions must be reviewed and evaluated for feasible alternatives and for social, economic, historic, environmental, legal, and safety considerations. Under Executive Order (EO) 11988 and EO 11990, FEMA is required to consider alternatives, and to provide a public notice of any proposed actions in or affecting floodplains or wetlands. EO 12898 also requires FEMA to provide the opportunity for public participation in the planning process and to consider potential impacts to minority and low-income populations. This notice may also fulfill requirements under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

 Funding for the proposed project will be conditional upon compliance with all applicable federal, tribal, state, and local laws, regulations, floodplain standards, permit requirements and conditions.

 Applicant: Haywood County, NC

 Project Title: Haywood Acquisition Project; HMGP-4588

Location of Proposed Work: The area affected by this project consists of the acquisition of twenty-two (22) residential structures located in the incorporated limits of the Town of Canton (0-100 block of Birch Street), unincorporated areas of Haywood County in the Pigeon and East Fork townships (300-400 blocks of Hidden Valley Circle, 200-300 blocks of Mundy Field Rd, 0-100 block of Ark Park Rd and the 9000 block of Cruso Rd), and the Town of Clyde (2000-3000 blocks of Broad St, 0-100 block of Morgan St and the 0-100 block of Levi St) North Carolina.  

Proposed Work and Purpose:

This will be a voluntary acquisition program. For all property owners who decide to participate in this voluntary program, the properties will be acquired and demolished using HMGP grant funds. The properties will be returned to greenspace in perpetuity and deeds restricted in accordance with all applicable federal, tribal, state, and local laws, regulations, floodplain standards, permit requirements and conditions as a means of mitigating against future flood damage and losses at these sites. 

Project Alternatives:

Alternative #1 (No action): The 'no action' alternative would continue to place these structures at a high risk of being affected by the floodplain. The subject properties would remain susceptible to any future flooding events. The damages and risk of potential loss of life would continue to be a threat if no action is taken.

Alternative #2 (Elevation): The owners of these residential properties do not want stay in their homes due to the continuing costs of damages from storms and flooding. Elevating these structures will not fully eliminate the risk of future damages and would be cost prohibitive. Further, HMGP is a voluntary program and the homeowners involved with this project have selected “acquisition” as their preference. 

Comment Period:

Comments are solicited from the public, local and state or federal agencies, and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of the proposed project. The comments should be made in writing and addressed to:  

FEMA Internal 11988 Reviewer

FEMA Region 4

3005 Chamblee-Tucker Road

Atlanta, Georgia, 30341

 Alternatively, comments may be emailed to: FEMA-R4EHP@fema.dhs.gov. Please send comments with the subject line [HMGP-4588 COMMENT].

 All comments are due by no later than 30 days of the original posted date of this notice.

 Original source can be found here.