Bethlehem hydraulic system/Initial meeting notes

Agenda

FEMA:

Bruce covered the issues regarding the maintenance period and the community’s liability for eligibility in PL-84-99 and FEMA Public Assistance.

I covered the levee process, the implications for flood insurance and floodplain management. I covered Map Mod and Northampton’s status in Map Mod as complete and that the issue bringing FEMA to the meeting is the maintenance deficiencies. Regarding certification and the process steps, I emphasized that FEMA wants to engage the City in the successful navigation of the process and not to be punitive if milestones are missed by the City. FEMA could waste time and money in unnecessary analyses if the City is able to “catch up” and succeed. It was acknowledged that FEMA would have to evaluate today’s flood risk with and without the levee and interior drainage system to properly determine the floodplain, if we proceeded with de-accreditation.

Bruce and Mike debated rainfall-runoff and river discharges vs interior rain events and some historic storms including Floyd, Ivan, April 2005, etc… Mike described how the drainage system has not shown any (Ivan being the most significant) issues from interior or river side flooding. The northside of the river had more issues than the southside. The river gage location is just below New Street. Jason described how the statistical analysis is done based on the gage records and is not empirically derived. Paulson described how he spoke with Steve DeSalvo of the City about flooding after April 2005, he presumed it was on the southside behind the levee. Jim Smith clarified that the only flooding was at the Sauken Creek outlet and upstream. No issues on the Lehigh. Some issues on the northside from the Monocacy Creek.

Bruce described that if the City wants to pull the pumps out of the process, they would need to submit a report that substantiates that they are not necessary. Bruce posed the question about fixing the pumps. Mike thought that it would be on the table if 69k cfs was the 100-yr event for fixing the pump stations. Bruce described how the levee design is 88k and provides 127-yr protection. Mike doesn’t think a consultant would take on the challenge to generate a report to say that the pumps were not needed. He said he could only do it if the recent events were at or above the 100-yr event. Mike admitted that the City will likely be stuck figuring out how to repair the stations. The neighboring communities have had plenty of flooding issues when the City did not. The only area never getting flooded was behind the levee. Mike said that getting the consultant to do the evaluation would be a waste of $100. Bruce mentioned that getting rid of the pumps would require a change in the authorization of the project. Mike said that would not happen.

Bruce began the discussion that the City needs to get a plan to the District in 30 days from now. This must include the schedule for repair within the one year time frame.

The question of the linking of the deficiency to the map change requirements of 65.10 was raised. I described how the are now linked because of the deficiency. This was not well received. I also suggested that the City should have been forced into this same exercise at the time of the last map up date. Mike mentioned the letter of map revision that was done for the system in the past.

Matt asked if the 9 month schedule was fixed. Bob E said it would be based on progress.

Mike asked if money was available to help. Ed and Carol took on the action to evaluate it.

Bruce encouraged the City to get something in on time. Mike said he would create a plan that realistically fits the City’s needs. The plan goes to the Colonel then winds up with Bob E’s crew. Then it needs to be accepted by the Corps and communicated to FEMA.

I mentioned to Mike that the previous LOMR should be 85 or 90% of what would be required for certification. If it could be resurrected and dusted off it might not take too much to achieve certification. I mentioned that the City doesn’t need to communicate with FEMA until the end of the maintenance period. We’ll communicate with the Corps.