In the multi-layered regulations written and managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), there are ways to change a property’s classification regarding whether or not it is considered part of a flood zone. Those processes are known as “Letter of Map Amendment” (LOMA), or “Letter of Map Revision – Based on Fill” (LOMR-F). A simple definition is that a location that FEMA has classified as being part of a flood zone may be reclassified if the elevation is changed by adding fill to bring the elevation higher.
That is what engineer Rich Charon of Charon Associates proposed on behalf of his client, Dale Allison of 359 Delano Road, during the September 9 meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission.
Charon detailed the FEMA process to the commissioners, noting that the application for such reclassification was pending and that it would be helpful to his client if the commission approved Allison’s application for a Request for Determination of Applicability when he filed the letter with FEMA.
The commissioners, having never before been faced with this type of complex request, were both intrigued and flummoxed.
Charon explained that Allison was intending to demolish an existing structure on the property and build a new home situated in a slightly different location, but only after 75 yards of fill were placed, thereby gaining a new elevation – one they hoped FEMA would favorably view as being out of the flood zone.
It would be a multi-step process. Charon said the applicant would first ask FEMA for a conditional LOMA and then seek a final LOMR-F classification to put the new home’s location out of the more costly flood zone.
Having never before dealt with an application of this sort, the commission toiled long minutes trying to get the language correct for their ruling. In the end, ConCom member Steve Gonsalves wrote a Positive 3 determination of the RDA subject to the application receiving a FEMA LOMA/LOMR-F response and approval of a Special Permit by the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals.
Also rendered during the meeting was a request by Steve Goodman, 8 Olde Meadow Road, for the removal of encroaching vegetation; a Negative 3 determination for the application of Chuong Pham, 22 Bass Point Road, for the addition of sonotubes; special conditions for a Notice of Intent were issued for the application by Moorings QPRT, 99-100 Mooring Road, for water main and utilities upgrades; Clean Energy Collective’s Notice of Intent received an Order of Conditions; and last, but not least, the commission’s own Norman Hills’ Notice of Intent received an Order of Conditions for the removal of a large pine tree in a jurisdictional area, the construction of a 24-foot by 24-foot garage, and the construction of a 160-foot by 17-foot patio within the 100-foot buffer of a bordering vegetated wetland at 680 Front Street.
The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission is scheduled for September 23 at 7:00 pm in the Town House conference room.
By Marilou Newell
