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10/15/2012 12:00 AMOLD SAYBROOK - Will town property owners with homes newly within federal flood hazard zones be able to buy subsidized federal flood insurance? The answer depends on whether town voters approve the new federal flood zone maps and rules that the National Flood Insurance Program requires. Next week's Town Meeting at which town action will be weighed will be held Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Old Saybrook Middle School Auditorium at 60 Sheffield Street.
If the town next week were to vote against adoption, the consequences would be serious. All town property owners whose property is in the 100-year flood hazard zone would suddenly lose the option of purchasing subsidized federal flood insurance.
What would happen then? Banks still have to protect the properties on which they hold mortgages from catastrophic flood damage, so, if the owner doesn't or can't buy a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood policy, the bank will buy a commercial insurance policy for them-and force the homeowner to pay the higher, unsubsidized rates for the privilege.
Adoption of the new FEMA Flood Hazard Zone maps will mean that more property owners in town will be required to buy flood insurance than before. That's because the new, more accurate FEMA maps have changed the flood zone boundaries.
More than 670 properties (about 10 percent of the town) will be affected by the adoption of the new federal Flood Insurance Rate Map and Flood Insurance Study.
About 600 town properties shown in the new maps' 100-year flood area did not previously fall in the regulated flood risk zone or were in the unregulated 500-year flood zone, so most of these property owners never had to buy flood insurance before-but now they do.
"All of the properties in Cornfield Point, for example, are now within the 100-year flood plain," said Town Attorney Michael Cronin. "It's important that people be aware of the changes. Banks are going to look at the new maps and require the [affected] owners to buy flood insurance. If the owners don't, the bank will buy it for them, sometimes at a higher cost."
About 70 properties that were previously drawn within the 100-year flood hazard zone received good news: they have been shifted to a 500-year flood zone category or other zone considered at lower risk of flooding.
To find out whether your property is inside or outside the 100-year FEMA flood risk zone, visit the town website www.oldsaybrookct.org and click on the tab FEMA Information on the left side of the screen. On this next webpage are the maps as well as an information sheet entitled Frequently Asked Questions about the 2012 FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps and the new flood insurance program.
Senior Housing Tax Relief: Also on the Call
Town electors will also be asked at Tuesday's Town Meeting to support tax relief for the non-profit, 36-unit Old Saybrook Senior Housing complex at 55 Sheffield Street and the newly cleared property for future housing at 57 Sheffield. The town's Board of Selectmen has taken action several times in the past 30 years to support offering a 50 percent property tax abatement for this complex that serves low-income seniors.
Action by the town at this meeting to approve the tax abatement will officially add the tax-abatement order to the town's land records.
The town's tax-abatement agreement with the non-profit Old Saybrook Senior Housing Inc. would remain in force as long as the property is used for low- and moderate-income housing.