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Missouri lacks rules on flood plain development By By SARA SHIPLEY Copyright 2003 | St. Louis Post-Dispatch 07/27/2003
As the head of Missouri's flood plain management program, George Riedel is used to fielding complaints about things he can't control.
People question whether new flood plain developments in Chesterfield, Maryland Heights and elsewhere are wise. They ask him, aren't these projects risky? Aren't they going to make flooding worse elsewhere?
Even if they were, Riedel couldn't do a thing about it.
"We get questions all the time, 'How can you allow that to happen?'" said Riedel, who works for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. "Well, everything's legal out there."
Missouri has no flood plain development laws of its own. Instead, it relies on communities to voluntarily adopt minimum federal standards through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Flood Insurance Program.
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Many see no need for more rules, because federal regulations already cover most communities along major rivers.
Missouri lawmakers have shunned proposals to create a state program at least twice. A bid by former Rep. Denny Meredith, D-Caruthersville, to create a minimum state program didn't even get out of committee this spring.
Leslie Holloway, director of state and local governmental affairs for the Missouri Farm Bureau, was concerned that the proposal would interfere with farmers' ability to manage their own property.
"It's not like we don't think there should be any regulations whatsoever. We don't think there should be unnecessary regulations," she said.
Critics say the absence of state oversight has created a free-for-all atmosphere that pits communities against each other as they compete for jobs and economic growth. Levee construction or development in one area can affect neighbors upstream or downstream who have no say in the matter.
"A lot of people are starting to acknowledge that building in the flood plain just pushes the water somewhere else," said Edward J. "Ted" Heisel, a lawyer for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. "That's why we've been trying to make a case for a statewide management program, so the issue won't be so fragmented between various municipal and economic interests."
Missouri is in a league with Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi and about 20 other states that have no state regulations. Several states - including Illinois and Iowa - have programs that go beyond the federal minimum.
"Most states along the upper Mississippi River have stricter rules and control of municipalities," said Wayne Freeman, executive director of the Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, a conservation group aiming to stop flood plain development.
For example, federal rules allow most of the 100-year flood plain to be developed. Development is restricted in the central portion, where most floodwater is conveyed. This area, called the floodway, is defined by a computer model that squeezes in the sides of the flood plain until the water in the middle rises 1 foot. Outside of that area, unlimited development is permitted behind levees or on fill.
Illinois, however, allows only a 1/10 of a foot rise, creating a much wider floodway. Farther upstream, Wisconsin allows a rise of only 1/100 foot, meaning that much of the flood plain is protected.
"It's effectively squashed all flood plain development" in the 100-year flood plain, said Gary Heinrichs, state flood plain manager for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Missouri communities control their flood plains
Under Missouri's current program, Riedel is limited to offering technical help to communities that take part in the federal flood insurance program. In order to qualify for insurance, each community must adopt its own ordinance reflecting federal standards.
In Missouri, 570 separate counties and cities participate. Each one issues its own flood plain development permits and reports directly to FEMA.
Riedel's staff gives advice and occasionally conducts "audits" to make sure communities are following the program.
For the most part, local communities make their own decisions about flood plain management, much as they do any other land-use issue.
"I guess traditionally, it's been done at the local level, and the belief is, there's where it should be," Riedel said.
Environmental groups say this sort of thinking has led to a destructive competition. Freeman pointed to what he calls "levee wars" and "annexation wars" as evidence of the destructive competition among cities.
For example, in St. Louis County, Chesterfield is in the process of raising a Missouri River levee protecting 4,700 acres of land from a 100-year-flood protection level to a 500-year-flood level. Maryland Heights' Howard Bend Levee District is following suit to try to lure commercial development to 8,100 acres of bottom land.
In St. Charles County, the cities of St. Charles, St. Peters and O'Fallon are jostling for pieces of the wide, flat Mississippi River flood plain that stretches to the north.
These developments are legally permitted to worsen flooding for their neighbors by up to one foot under federal rules.
Wayne Oldroyd, community development director in Maryland Heights, acknowledged that the city's new levee will raise flood heights elsewhere along the river. "But only by the permitted amount," he said.
Communities should be more accountable than that, Heisel said.
"There's an inherent feeling in the state of Missouri that people have the right to develop their property no matter what it does to their neighbors," Heisel said. "It's a very narrow-minded view that puts the rights of the individual supreme over the good of the community."
Task force favored state overseeing levees
The debate has been raging since the Flood of 1993. A task force convened by then-Gov. Mel Carnahan recommended that the state oversee levee construction.
"The current levee situation in Missouri invites levee wars - a situation where each community, each farmer is encouraged to continue building his levee higher and stronger in order to protect his interest and ensure river water flows elsewhere," the report said. "But by everyone adopting this strategy, the aggregate result appears to actually increase the flood danger by increasing the height and velocity of the river flow during floods."
The recommendation went nowhere because of opposition from levee districts.
State officials still have no input on new levee projects. "When the Corps of Engineers does levees, they deal directly with communities, not with us. That's a flaw of the system," said Beaufort C. "Buck" Katt, deputy director of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency.
National authorities recommend that states adopt their own codes. "Local communities need to understand the federal government is not going to solve their flooding problem," said Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. "Communities need to go beyond the federal minimum."
Anthony Lowe, director of FEMA's mitigation and insurance division, said that federal government shouldn't be in the business of pushing stricter rules. "It needs to be a local decision," he said.
How some states control flood plain construction
Here's how some states are using key regulations to control flood plain construction:
State authority: About half of the 50 states have their own rules. Otherwise, regulation of flood plain development is controlled by local communities that adopt federal minimums under the National Flood Insurance Program.
Some states, like Wisconsin and Minnesota, require all communities to participate in the flood insurance program. Illinois and Iowa are among states that issue their own flood plain development permits for specific areas.
Oversight of levee construction: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin are some of the states that require state approval of flood-control structures, such as levees, flood walls and dams.
Freeman said that state oversight would help Missouri, which has about 1,450 levees, most of them independently operated.
Flood rise: Federal rules allow flood plain development and fill to cause a one-foot rise in the 100-year-flood height. Some states are much stricter. Maryland even has a "no-rise" requirement.
"In Maryland, the law says you can't increase flooding, or you have to buy a flooding easement," former state flood plain manager Rebecca Quinn said.
Freeboard requirement: Some states require new flood plain construction to have a foot or two of "freeboard," or additional elevation above the 100-year-flood height. Federal rules require new construction to be built only to the level of a 100-year flood.
Future conditions planning: FEMA's rules are based on the current 100-year flood plain. Some states, including Maryland and Wisconsin, take into account what flood levels will be when the drainage basin is fully developed. This usually results in requirements for additional protection.
Reporter Sara Shipley:
E-mail: sshipley@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8215
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