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Lines on maps left Lake of the Ozarks property owners frustrated, but alphabet soup has added confusion to the stewing pool of negative emotions some find themselves dunked into in 2011.
County governments in Camden, Miller, Morgan and Benton counties adopted newly-drawn flood plain maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in June. Also this summer, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) questioned Ameren Missouri's project boundaries contained within the company's new shoreline management plan.
The FERC dispute involves approximately 1,260 property owners who have some sort of structure located below the boundary elevation that Ameren describes in its shoreline management plan. FERC could order Ameren to reclaim the property—even with people's homes on the property.
FEMA declared with its new maps that thousands of Lake of the Ozarks properties fell inside a flood plain, which would drive up mandatory flood insurance rates.
Some Lake of the Ozarks property owners, especially those along the Niangua Arm and the Gravois Arm, own property that is part of both the FEMA and FERC controversies. Likewise, county governments, Ameren Missouri employees, and businesspeople have to deal with the confusion that comes from separate issues.
"All of the FEMA flood plains and their flood levels are not what we calculate for our project boundary, and they are not tied. So there may be two separate issues you have to consider," Osage Power Plant Manager Warren Witt said.
While most lake residents expect Ameren to be in the thick of both the FERC and FEMA matters, private sector businesses are also in the mix. As a result of FEMA's new maps, surveyors and engineers picked up massive amounts of work surveying lakeside real estate in effort to prove that homes and condos are not high-risk for flood insurance companies. Schultz and Summers Engineering Assistant Marketing Director Amanda LaPorte says workers from the company's Lake Ozark office have performed more than 500 surveys since the new maps were adopted. Surveyors are averaging five or six surveys per day. She added that many clients mix up FERC and FEMA in their minds.
"It was (confusing) for a long time," LaPorte said. "The big problem is the lack of understanding between everybody. If we as a group, surveyors, county officials, realtors, and title companies get on the same page, it can make sense."
While surveyors like Danny Roeger have plenty of work to do as a result of the new FEMA maps, they aren't exactly overjoyed with the process.
"We try to be as patient as we possibly can with everybody. We understand that it's frustrating. As a local resident, I grew up down here. I'm going through the same thing in my personal life as well," Roeger said.
Some Lake of the Ozarks property owners will pay surveyors and engineers hundreds of dollars for work that even the surveyors say is "common sense."
"You'll be at a homeowner's property standing on a bluff that's 40 feet off the water and they'll be forced to purchase flood insurance," Roeger said. "The majority of our clientele is anyone who is purchasing or selling a home, or anyone with a mortgage on the house. FEMA is forcing almost everyone with a mortgage to go through this."
As real estate transactions spark property buyers and sellers to file map amendments with FEMA, Ameren Missouri and a growing group of Lake of the Ozarks stakeholders are pressing FERC to reconsider its stance on property boundaries.
Property owners dealing with FERC and FEMA simultaneously can ask their surveyors to measure both elevation lines.
"The best way I found to explain it is FEMA and FERC are two totally separate issues and two separate government agencies. One deals with providing energy, the other deals with emergency assistance," LaPorte said. "They go based off of two separate sets of data for their elevations even."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted the analysis that led to the new FEMA flood plain maps. The U.S. Geological Survey assisted the USACE in determining the topography of the land surrounding the Lake of the Ozarks. The previous flood plain maps were adopted in 1993.
Lines on maps left Lake of the Ozarks property owners frustrated, but alphabet soup has added confusion to the stewing pool of negative emotions some find themselves dunked into in 2011.
County governments in Camden, Miller, Morgan and Benton counties adopted newly-drawn flood plain maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in June. Also this summer, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) questioned Ameren Missouri's project boundaries contained within the company's new shoreline management plan.
The FERC dispute involves approximately 1,260 property owners who have some sort of structure located below the boundary elevation that Ameren describes in its shoreline management plan. FERC could order Ameren to reclaim the property—even with people's homes on the property.
FEMA declared with its new maps that thousands of Lake of the Ozarks properties fell inside a flood plain, which would drive up mandatory flood insurance rates.
Some Lake of the Ozarks property owners, especially those along the Niangua Arm and the Gravois Arm, own property that is part of both the FEMA and FERC controversies. Likewise, county governments, Ameren Missouri employees, and businesspeople have to deal with the confusion that comes from separate issues.
"All of the FEMA flood plains and their flood levels are not what we calculate for our project boundary, and they are not tied. So there may be two separate issues you have to consider," Osage Power Plant Manager Warren Witt said.
While most lake residents expect Ameren to be in the thick of both the FERC and FEMA matters, private sector businesses are also in the mix. As a result of FEMA's new maps, surveyors and engineers picked up massive amounts of work surveying lakeside real estate in effort to prove that homes and condos are not high-risk for flood insurance companies. Schultz and Summers Engineering Assistant Marketing Director Amanda LaPorte says workers from the company's Lake Ozark office have performed more than 500 surveys since the new maps were adopted. Surveyors are averaging five or six surveys per day. She added that many clients mix up FERC and FEMA in their minds.
"It was (confusing) for a long time," LaPorte said. "The big problem is the lack of understanding between everybody. If we as a group, surveyors, county officials, realtors, and title companies get on the same page, it can make sense."
While surveyors like Danny Roeger have plenty of work to do as a result of the new FEMA maps, they aren't exactly overjoyed with the process.
"We try to be as patient as we possibly can with everybody. We understand that it's frustrating. As a local resident, I grew up down here. I'm going through the same thing in my personal life as well," Roeger said.
Some Lake of the Ozarks property owners will pay surveyors and engineers hundreds of dollars for work that even the surveyors say is "common sense."
"You'll be at a homeowner's property standing on a bluff that's 40 feet off the water and they'll be forced to purchase flood insurance," Roeger said. "The majority of our clientele is anyone who is purchasing or selling a home, or anyone with a mortgage on the house. FEMA is forcing almost everyone with a mortgage to go through this."
As real estate transactions spark property buyers and sellers to file map amendments with FEMA, Ameren Missouri and a growing group of Lake of the Ozarks stakeholders are pressing FERC to reconsider its stance on property boundaries.
Property owners dealing with FERC and FEMA simultaneously can ask their surveyors to measure both elevation lines.
"The best way I found to explain it is FEMA and FERC are two totally separate issues and two separate government agencies. One deals with providing energy, the other deals with emergency assistance," LaPorte said. "They go based off of two separate sets of data for their elevations even."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted the analysis that led to the new FEMA flood plain maps. The U.S. Geological Survey assisted the USACE in determining the topography of the land surrounding the Lake of the Ozarks. The previous flood plain maps were adopted in 1993.
