FEMA Region 1 issued the following letter on 3/5/19 to community offiicals in the Lamoille River Watershed announcing community Discovery Meetings to prioritize studies for updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps.
March 26, 2019 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Johnson Town Hall
293 Lower Main Street West, JohnsonMarch 27, 2019 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Village of Hardwick Memorial Room
20 Church St, Hardwick
This effort will ultimately update the Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Maps for the communities in the study areas. The maps are the basis of your adopted flood hazard regulations and flood insurance requirements and risk rating. In addition, the Risk MAP effort will provide related tools to facilitate flood hazard mitigation planning and communication of flood risk. Current maps can be viewed at www.msc.fema.gov
For more information on the FEMA RiskMAP Update process.
March 5, 2019
Subject: Discovery Meeting
Town of:
Community No.: 500XXXDear (Selectboard Chair - full list below)
I am writing to inform you of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) upcoming Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP) Discovery Meeting for the Lamoille Watershed. Risk MAP is a FEMA program that helps communities identify, assess, and reduce their flood risk. By combining quality engineering with updated flood hazard data, FEMA provides accurate and easy-to-use information to enhance local mitigation plans, improve community outreach, and increase local awareness to flood hazards.
The Discovery process commences at the beginning of a Risk MAP project and assists in identifying the scope of the watershed study. The Discovery Meeting is part of the Discovery process, and the information exchanged between FEMA and communities within the Lamoille Watershed during Discovery will improve our understanding of your watershed’s flood hazard mapping and mitigation planning. A Community Information Map for your community, displaying data that we have compiled for your community, will be provided at the Discovery Meeting. As discussed when we spoke to a representative from your community, during Discovery, FEMA intends to gather information about local flood risk and flood hazards. Please see the attached questionnaire with the data we hope to gather from you.
The following Discovery Meetings have been scheduled for the Lamoille Watershed. There will be two meetings in the Lamoille Watershed and both meetings will cover the same information so please attend the one which is more convenient for you.
March 26, 2019
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Johnson Town Hall
293 Lower Main Street West
Johnson, VT 05656March 27, 2019
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Village of Hardwick Memorial Room
20 Church St
Hardwick, VT 05843These Discovery Meetings are being coordinated by Compass, the technical services contractor to FEMA for this project. Please RSVP to Lauren Klonsky, the Compass Project Manager for the Lamoille Watershed project, by email at Klonskyls@cdmsmith.com or by calling (617) 452-6361.
At the Discovery Meeting, we will review the flood risk data we have gathered to date by presenting a draft Lamoille Watershed Discovery Map. We will also discuss your community’s flooding history, flood risk concerns and mitigation. Any data or information that you can provide will aid in this discussion.
In addition to inviting community leaders, emergency managers, GIS specialists, and local planners to the Discovery Meeting, FEMA will invite other stakeholders with a vested interest in the Lamoille Watershed’s resources, floodplains, and flood risk. This may include representatives from State, Federal, regional, and local agencies and associations. Together, we will discuss the study that will be conducted in the Lamoille Watershed, any information you have to provide, and the importance of mitigation planning and community outreach.
We encourage you and/or any other relevant floodplain management staff to attend this important meeting. The partnership and exchange of data between FEMA and your community will be vital to our success in identifying flood risks and needs that may exist. In addition to the questionnaire, if there are any data related to your community’s flood risk that you have not yet provided to us, but that you would like to have taken into consideration when reviewing your flood risk, please bring it to the meeting or send it to the following address:
Lauren Klonsky
Compass Project Manager
c/o CDM Smith
75 State Street, Suite 701
Boston, MA 02109If you have any questions regarding the Discovery process, the scheduled Discovery Meeting or the data requested, please contact Lauren Klonsky by email at Klonskyls@cdmsmith.com or by calling (617) 452-6361. Also available to answer any questions is FEMA Project Manager, Christopher Markesich, by email at Christopher.Markesich@fema.dhs.gov or by phone at (617) 832-4712.
Sincerely,
Kerry Bogdan
Risk Analysis Branch Chief
Mitigation Division
FEMA Region IEnclosure:
Community Questionnaire
Communities contacted:
Earl Domina, Jr. Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Belvidere
Dana Sweet. Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Cambridge
Nadine Scibek, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Colchester
Ricky Morin, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Eden
Glenn Schwartz, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Elmore
Max G. Levy, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Essex
Eric Remick, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Hardwick
Susan Bartlett, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Hyde Park
Kim Nulty, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Jericho
Eric T. Osgood, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Johnson
Darren Adams, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Milton
Bob Beeman, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Morristown
Walter Smith, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Sheffield
Jan Lewandoski, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Stannard
William Adams, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Stowe
Kurt Johnson, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Underhill
Jonathan Augeri, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Walden
Donald Lynch, Sr;, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Waterville
Allison Hope, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Westford
Jason DiGiulio, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Wheelock
Eric Furs, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Wolcott
Michael Gray, Chairperson, Selectboard, Town of Woodbury
