Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
April 18 was a busy day for the Pocahontas County Commission.
Commissioners met with members of the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority and members of the Fertig Family regarding the purchase of the County Landfill, which the Solid Waste Authority has been leasing from Renee Fertig-Hill.
The Solid Waste Authority members and the commission agreed that the authority will need the com- mission’s financial assistance to purchase the landfill in order for the authority to be able to continue to provide trash disposal using a transfer station built on that site after the landfill reaches its capacity and closes in about two years.
Fertig-Hill and the commission agreed that $129,900 would be a fair price for the landfill, and both parties agreed that the recently surveyed boundaries of the 40.6 acre site were acceptable.
The remaining issue was who would pay to build the fence around three sides of the 40.6-acre tract, as required by the West Virginia Department of the Environmental Protection, as well as another fence to run on both sides of the half-mile long roadway through the Fertig farm to the site. Fertig-Hill and her relatives said the fence along the state-maintained roadway is absolutely necessary to protect her cattle from the vehicular traffic that will be traveling to and from the transfer station.
It was determined that the cost for the fence around the landfill property would be $24,307.50 and an additional $19,900 will be required to construct a fence along both sides of the roadway. Commissioner Jamie Walker was willing to pay Fertig-Hill $24,307.50 for her to build the fence around the landfill by adding that amount to the purchase price. But he insisted that the Solid Waste Authority pay for the fence along the roadway.
The commission voted to pay Fertig-Hill $129,900 for the property plus the $24,307.50 for her to have the fence built around the landfill property, for a total of $154,207.50. They said it would be easier for Fertig-Hill to build that fence than for the commission to have to go through the complicated process accepting bids for the job.
Ed Riley, Chairman of the Solid Waste Authority, said they had already offered to build the fence along one side of the road, if Fertig-Hill would build the fence along the other side, but the authority will still need to formally approve that at its next meeting.
Fertig-Hill indicated that the commission’s offer appears to be acceptable.
Regarding the post-closure cost of monitoring the water at the landfill and of maintaining the cap for 30 years, SWA office administrator Mary Clendenen said they have revised down the estimated annual cost of that from $75,000 per year to $50,000. The commission indicated they might also be willing to help with that cost, as well as with some of the future costs of operating the transfer station since it is in the best interest of the citizens that the cost of garbage disposal remain as reasonable as possible.
In addition to the solid waste issue, the commission also met with Tim Keaton, the National Flood Insurance Coordinator for West Virginia; Ruthie Maniscalchi, with WV Emergency Management; two WVU GIS Specialists; and with the County, Durbin and Marlinton Flood Plain coordinators; to discuss the new FEMA Flood Plain Maps for the county.
Keaton explained that FEMA’s new flood maps for Pocahontas County have just been released in preliminary form. He said that for now the maps are “advisory.” He said they can be seen on the WV Flood Map Tool at http://www.mapwv.gov/flood/map/
He said they can also be found on the FEMA website https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps
There is currently a 90-day appeal period, then six months after that ends, the maps will become official.
He said the new maps have been under development for many years, and are much more accurate than the old ones. This is because Lidar mapping from aircraft was utilized to determine the exact elevations of the surface of the land. Keaton said the old maps used highway maps containing 20-foot elevation contours, and those are not nearly as accurate as the radar-based Lidar mapping.
Keaton said the new maps show expanded flood plain and floodway areas in the county. As a result, a much larger portion of Marlinton, as well as of other parts of the county are now in a flood plain or floodway. The areas in a floodway are more dangerous than those simply in a flood plain. He said new construction is very restricted in a floodway, while construction in a flood plain, while difficult, is still possible.
They said that the owner of a building in a flood plain should purchase National Flood Insurance, but if there is a mortgage on the structure, flood insurance is required by most lenders. He also warned that If your home is mortgaged and the new flood maps place it in a flood plain when it was not before, your mortgage company will likely require that you purchase flood insurance.
Without flood insurance, Keaton explained, if your home is damaged in a flood, you could receive a very limited amount of disaster relief from FEMA – an average of about $4,000, but if it floods a second time you won’t be eligible for any more disaster relief funds. But, if a structure is covered by flood insurance there is an average flood damage reimbursement of $19,000 for each flood damage occurrence.
They said that the new maps show that about 200 structures in Pocahontas County have been moved into flood plains, and about the same number have been moved out of flood plains. The new maps show there are about 900 structures in the county that are in flood plains, but only 190 of them are covered by flood insurance.
They said that the flood plain/floodway areas in Marlinton and elsewhere in the county have increased. Part of the reason for that is the increased accuracy of the flood mapping techniques, but also because people have illegally elevated of structures by adding fill which increases size of the flood plain and the amount of flood damages experienced by other properties in the area. They said FEMA will be cracking down in the near future on these fill-elevated properties that were built up without proper permits.
Keaton said there are flood mitigation grants available to homeowners who wish to legally increase the elevation of their house by using piers.
The presenters also said that Marlinton is in the top 10 percent of all flood risk areas in West Virginia.
