Some E. Dundee residents successful in disputing FEMA

Less than half the East Dundee residents who took advantage of a village program to help homeowners remove their property from recently updated FEMA flood plain maps successfully reversed the federal agency's designation, village staff said.

Village Manager Frank Koehler told trustees Monday that 54 residents in the Flats neighborhood submitted applications for a $100 reimbursement from the village to help offset the cost of a survey and other documentation disputing the Federal Emergency Management Agency's redrawn flood zone maps.

The new maps are part of a $1 billion FEMA project to digitize a map of the entire nation. The flood zone designation would have forced homeowners to purchase expensive flood insurance coverage, as mandated by insurance companies.

Of the those 54 applications, 24 - or about 44 percent - of the homeowners were able to show their homes were higher than the flood line. The homes had not been included in the federal agency's flood plain boundaries in 2002, residents said.

In September, trustees voted 5-1 to reimburse eligible residents. Trustee Jeff Lynam was the lone dissenter.

While a number of residents are awaiting FEMA notification, Koehler said the program was worth the village's investment.

"It was a good opportunity for the village to extend a hand to the residents, and residents were able to benefit," Koehler said. "The residents still paid a major portion of the expense, but we minimized it."

Trustee Lael Miller said the success of about half of the residents was "fantastic."

"I questioned whether or not we were responsible for ... but it is great we helped out residents."