9/7/07 - Plan would direct flooding solutions

Subcommittee calls for study to evaluate where projects are needed and their impacts

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

With myriad flooding problems in the county in several areas, the county subcommittee on flooding agreed Thursday that the county needs a comprehensive plan to address those issues one by one.

The committee, which is made up of legislators, city aldermen, county planning officials and other community members, agreed that it is difficult at this point to prioritize and focus on one area in the county because so many areas are affected.

It decided to pursue developing an all-inclusive study of the county’s numerous flooding “hot spots,” which would allow community leaders to effectively organize and prioritize any mitigations they undertake.

If the committee could solicit the support of flood-ridden municipalities in the county, Bernie Thoma of Thoma Development noted that the study could potentially be funded by state money earmarked for inter-municipal cooperation.

“I think what we need is some kind of comprehensive approach that helps evaluate where we’re going to need to do projects, what sort of impact they would have,” said Legislator and committee Chairman Carol Tytler (D-3rd Ward).

The comprehensive plan would set criteria for determining which issues should take priority, similar to long-term plans used by highway departments in addressing highway repairs.

However, Amanda Barber, director of the Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation District, noted flooding issues can change rapidly.

“This plan is not a typical plan, you can’t predict like other infrastructure,” Barber said. “You’re going to need to be constantly reassessing, reprioritizing … you could have one hot spot one year, but then another year it’s farther down stream.”

The committee agreed the study should be flexible, and should include specific criteria for prioritizing problems and changing the document for future community leaders.

Thoma said the first step in developing such a plan would be determining a scope of the plan, which Barber and County Planning Director Dan Dineen said they would work on.

Then, Thoma said he would solicit cost estimates from consulting firms, after which the committee would need to forge partnerships with municipalities in order to apply for state funding.

OK, now wait a minute - - so the County want to spend lots of money for a comprehensive plan to study flooding issues, which are always changing. Constant updates, lots of attention, etc., etc., etc.

BUT still no comprehensive plan for facilities? Now they are going to have to deal with the "loss" in the South Main Street deal, while plowing through with options for a DMV site? I hope that one of the four potential sites was the Moose.

Please ask your legislator what they are doing about a County facilities master plan!