Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District

Melodywood Flood Mitigation Project


Project Funding

FEMA - HMGP 
$ 481,349

  In-kind Cash 
$ 91,000

  Force Account 
$100,000

  Ineligible Match
$ 55,000

  Total Project Cost
$727,349

Project Completed 
$ 2,963 under budget

 

After the flood, the GCSWCD facilitated assessments of the site by the Natural Resource Conservation Service under the 403 Emergency Watershed Protection program (EWP) and the site was ruled ineligible for funds or NRCS technical assistance. Funding limits under the FEMA Individual Assistance program were far from adequate to cover the cost of mitigation, and the property owners faced the choice of funding repairs using loans from the Small Business Administration. Coordination of the project using SBA loans was further complicated by the fact that each of the 48 condo owners, and the 8 adjoining properties in the project area would have to take out individual loans. Based on the final project costs, it was estimated that each landowner would have to payback over $35,000 over the life of the loan even with the low interest rates.

At the request of local municipal leaders, the GCSWCD took on the task of coordinating a mitigation strategy to protect these properties as well as the job of finding funding to assist the landowners. In the fall of 1996, the GCSWCD prepared a application on behalf of the Village of Hunter under FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program  and was successful in obtaining over $480,000 in federal mitigation dollars.

The District enlisted the assistance of the NYS NRCS to design the project and to provide on-site inspection, while the District undertook all permitting, contracting and overall coordination tasks. With over 56 landowners, 2 state agencies, 3 federal agencies and a number of local municipal units, the project was extremely complex.

Additionally, the status of the structures was such that the project  was extremely risky.  In 1997, construction was completed on a steel sheet piling and stacked rock rip rap wall designed to protect the site from 100 year floods in excess of 50,000 cfs.

Due to the hard work and diligent effort of the many project partners, the project was completed under budget and on schedule in the fall of 1997. Since that tie, the site has experienced several floods with no additional damage to the buildings.

Implementation Strategy

GCSWCD & NRCS provided full-time, on-site inspection of all work

Partnerships were developed to meet  Force Account  in-kind requirements

Local responsibility for  site de-watering saved 90% of the cost

Specialty work such as steel piling was done by Contracted Services

Local forces developed and maintained access roads, completed in-channel work ,  habitat restoration requirements and final stabilization

 

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