Bedford County revises floodplain ordinance

BEDFORD — To ensure flood insurance for property owners, the Bedford County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to revise the county’s floodplain ordinance.

The new ordinance, which prohibits certain uses and activities in flood-prone areas, is necessary to meet requirements of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has completed a flood insurance study and a flood insurance rate map that each take effect Sept. 29.

Carl Boggess, the county’s attorney, told supervisors Monday the change is mandated by FEMA and each of the county’s seven districts has landowners prone to flooding.

“If we want to have (flood) insurance, we must have these provisions,” Boggess said. “I can’t make it any clearer than that.”

Two years ago, the board voted to appropriate $20,000 to hire a Blacksburg consultant to review the floodplain areas and compare the data with the federal study. More than 900 people complained to the county that they were added to flood areas based on the FEMA mapping changes, which the county appealed twice on behalf of residents.

The appeals led to substantial mapping changes that will benefit residents in flood-prone areas, Boggess said in a memo to supervisors.

“We really did make a major impact for the citizens,” Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi told the board.

During a public hearing Monday, Henry Wyatt of Forest said he thinks there are “many mistakes on the map that FEMA has pushed down on the county.”

“We still have some problems,” Wyatt said.

Robert Warrick, president of the Lake Vista Property Owners Association in Forest, said the subdivision was affected by the changes but the end result was positive.

“I’m very pleased with what happened,” Warrick said of the county’s effort on behalf of residents. “Everything was really well handled. I think the county’s done a phenomenal job with it.”

Guzi said the appeals were driven by citizens’ complaints and any further problems are hopefully “isolated cases” that can be addressed with FEMA. She especially praised Kevin Leamy, a county engineer who she said “worked tirelessly” in fielding complaints.

All board votes Monday were 4-0: three supervisors were absent.

In other business:

• After holding two separate public hearings Monday that drew no speakers, supervisors voted to renew a cable franchise with JetBroadband for a one-year period. The move gives the county needed time to negotiate a new franchise with Shentel, a Northern Virginia company in the process of purchasing JetBroadband. The board also approved a resolution consenting to the transfer of ownership between the two companies. Boggess said the new franchise should hopefully be in place within six months.

• The board voted to accept a Department of Criminal Justice Services Internet Crimes Against Children grant that totals $257,404 for the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office. The money will provide supplies, equipment, salaries and benefits for three investigators and an analyst through May 31, 2011, according to a resolution. Another vote Monday also accepted a state grant of $50,000 for the same program.

Supervisors voted to authorize a five-year lease-purchase for a new compacter at the county’s landfill. The machine costs roughly $588,000 and replaces equipment that has been in place since 1993 when the landfill first opened. The county will attempt to sell the older compacter and place the proceeds in a solid waste department reserve fund.