PEMA Flood Zone Buyout Announcement Leaves Questions Unanswered

Wyoming County Commissioners (back, from left) Judy Mead, Tom Henry and Ron Williams hear from Housing and Redevelopment Authority director John Jennings (front, left), HRA grants administrator Lisa Hahn (front, right) and EMA director Gene Dziak, who announced that nearly $2.5 million in FEMA buyouts are earmarked for the Meshoppen area.

Photo and Story by Rick Hiduk

Wyoming County officials announced on Tuesday that more than $2.4 million has a been allotted by the state’s Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for the purchase and demolition of as many as 14 structures.

The fact that the buyouts were limited to Meshoppen borough and Meshoppen township raised eyebrows among county residents in attendance, most of who were from Forkston Township. How could so much money be available to just two of the county’s municipalities, they wondered, when flooding and sinkhole issues affect property owners from one end of the county to the other?

The buyouts are the latest in a series of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Funding grants that have trickled down to municipalities devastated by flooding in 2011. Numerous people have contacted the county commissioners and attended meetings to personally ask how the latest grant applications were progressing, only to be told that the commissioners were being kept in the dark and were unable to provide answers.

Wyoming County Housing and Redevelopment Authority grants administrator Lisa Hahn said that HRA submitted five applications on behalf of county residents related to 70 properties that remain in flood prone areas. The application for the Meshoppen area, she suggested, was deemed more eligible than others because the two municipalities have the highest concentration of low- to medium-income families.

PEMA grouped them,” Hahn stated. According to a WCHRA press release that Hahn distributed, a team of individuals from PEMA, DCED, PennDOT, DEP and DCNR evaluated the applications.

That’s not to say that there aren’t more people in Wyoming County who are low- to medium income,” said HRA director John Jennings.

Median income is just one criteria of 15 cited in the press release. Others include a municipality’s experience with carrying out previous buyouts, demonstrated proof of the disaster’s impact on the application area, chance that the buyout will solve a repetitive problem, potential to prevent loss of life, adequacy of project’s budget details and chance of successful completion of a given project and others.

Hahn related that the state received applications requesting $16.6 million in funding but only $8 million was available. Luzerne County was awarded slightly more than $2.5 million for buyouts in Plymouth Township, and Dauphin County will receive a $2.5 million grant for buyouts in the city of Harrisburg. Another $600,000 is earmarked for Harrisburg as a match required to secure a 2015 FEMA grant.

By comparison, Hahn noted, no match is required of Wyoming County for the current round of funding. “It is 100 percent financed,” she maintained.

Other winners in the recent round of PEMA grants include Scott Township in Columbia County, which will receive $947,000 and South Lebanon Township in Lebanon County, which was awarded $195,000. PEMA will administer the grants directly with the municipalities.

The next step for WCHRA, Jennings noted is to procure a state-certified appraiser to begin evaluating the properties.

They have a right to get their own appraisal, and they should,” said Commissioner Ron Williams.

EMA director Gene Dziak agreed, adding, however, that the alternate appraisals must be conducted by another state-certified appraiser and at the landowner’s expense.

Lizz DeWolfe of Forkston asked Jennings for details about the 14 Meshoppen area properties, but Jennings insisted that it would be premature to discuss them publicly. Regardless of the figures that appraisers come up with, he explained, the buyouts are still voluntary. “Right up to the last minute, the homeowner still has the right to say, ‘No thank you.’”

Jennings said that he is hopeful that some funds will remain that can be used for buyouts in other parts of the county.

Other people have questions, but we can’t answer them without more information,” Commissioner Judy Mead told Jennings.

We have to let the process work before we know what will be left over,” Jennings noted. The grant covers not only the cost of the buyouts for property owners but also administrative costs including the appraiser, engineers, and legal assistance. The process of procuring professional services will begin immediately, he promised.

Several citizens in the room asked when the rest of the municipalities would be notified, and Jennings replied that it would happen as soon as possible.

Today,” Hahn quickly interjected, in reference to March 7.

A male audience participant said that the grant had already been a matter of discussion at the Meshoppen Borough meeting on Monday evening. Several Forkston area residents also said that they already knew that the grants were earmarked for Meshoppen as of March 6.

We’re letting people know as fast as we can,” said Hahn.

The next meeting of the Wyoming County Commissioners is set for Tuesday, March 21, at 9 am at the courthouse in Tunkhannock.

 

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