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City foul-up on flood plain is inexcusable

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Friday, Oct 26, 2007 - 12:13:51 am CDT

The case of the Lincoln homeowners who unknowingly built in a flood plain is alarming.

The findings in the case erode public confidence in the basic competence of Lincoln city government.

As disclosed in court, the homeowners in the Cardwell Woods subdivision relied on information supplied by city officials that their lots were above the flood plain.

It turned out that city officials had misplaced a flood plain map, according to court testimony. “… no one in the Building and Safety Department has been able to explain where it went or why it was removed,” wrote Lancaster County District Judge Steven Burns.

Burns ruled that the city was negligent for not accurately informing homeowners about the flood plain when building permits were issued.

A two-day trial is set for January to determine monetary damages. They could run into millions.

Any homeowner can easily empathize with Troy Stonacek, who learned in May 2005 that the lowest floor of his home was seven feet below the flood plain. Only the top floor and the garage were above it. “I was furious,” Stonacek said.

In granting the building permits, officials in city government’s Building and Safety Department used an old Federal Emergency Mangement Agency map. They should have used a state Natural Resources study of the area that was completed and submitted to the city in January 1997.

The new map showed a flood plain elevation seven feet higher than the old map.

Its accuracy was demonstrated in May, when a downpour left four inches of water in homeowner George Bristol’s basement and a pond more than three feet deep lapping at the patio door.

The city mounted a defense against the lawsuit filed by the unhappy homeowners but lost in what appears to be an open-and-shut case.

Now the city should let the public know what steps it has taken to avoid repeating this dreadful error. An elementary mistake like this should never happen again.


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Cosmic Cow wrote on October 26, 2007 6:36 am:
" So how much higher will Lincoln taxes go up to pay for this? Man, am I glad I just bought a new home in Seward. "

 Larry wrote on October 26, 2007 7:57 am:
" If your worried about flood plain costs...then check out the project the city is about to approve for the old Naval Reserve property on North 10 & Military Road. City council will be voting next month to sell city land and give TIFF money to a developer who plans to house the "seriously mentally ill" on that site. It's right next to Salt Creek! Who'll be sued and have to pay when the floods come and someone is hurt or killed? Not the developer! They'll go bankrupt but the city can't. We will all be left holding the bag on this one too. Call you council person today and say enough is enough with the flood plain development. "

 Typical wrote on October 26, 2007 8:02 am:
" It seems the City of Lincoln always errors on the side of the developers, while leaving the general public to fend for themselves. Here is another example of this behavior. The City of Lincoln requested the DNR flood plain elevation study, then it completely ignored it while approving this development. Had the homeowner known the correct elevations, they could have easily and inexpensively taken steps to build their homes at the correct elevations. Who made out here. Not the City, who has been found negligent. Not the homeowners, who at best will cover their losses. But the developers sit high and dry. What about the developers...should the City of Lincoln be solely responsible here? By bet...the City of Lincoln will fight these homeowners to the bitter end, but never take a peek at the developers. "

 George wrote on October 26, 2007 9:23 am:
" I usually agree with LJS, but not this time. The city is not the only one to blame. I am sure others saw this as a potential problem but turned the other cheek. You could sue the Realtors, Land Developers, Bankers, and Home Builders. But of course those groups either have really good lawyers or they are too small to squeeze money out of. The city is an easy deep pocket for sue happy lawyers to try and pick. "

 Tornado hill wrote on October 26, 2007 9:48 am:
" The bottom line here the home builder and home buyer should have the common sense not to build in the flood plain or elevate the structure above the vague and mystic hundred year water line. The second point is the job of the so called building and safety. There interest should be weather the structure and use is appropriate for the location. The inspection of building quality is the responsibility of the owner, mortgage holder, and possibly the insurance owner. The building and safety is just another hidden form of fees and taxes for a services that not required by the city or any government agency. The original purpose of building inspection was to protect unionize labor and unionize businesses from any new independent competition. "

 John wrote on October 26, 2007 11:59 am:
" I agree the city inspectors are just another way of taxing the people of Lincoln and creating jobs for homeowners to pay a salary. I've had every appliance replaced by LICENSED installers, yet have to pay an inspector that glances and leaves for a price. My gas items could blow up before they ever come. This kind of extravagant crap didn't go on in my former city. What good is a license for the installer? The only object for most of the businesses and city govt is to rake every damn dime they can and pad their pockets. And you have to ask why the cost of living is double here and taxes are four times higher than where I use to live!!!!! The more I see of Lincoln, makes you really wonder what they teach in their EXPENSIVE schools and socalled university!! Not all of us want to be here, we're just stuck! "

 reader wrote on October 26, 2007 12:18 pm:
" Also inexcusable is the fact that the homeowners are going after the city for the enire cost of their homes. One homeowner quoted in the original article was more than happy to protest the tax evaluation of his home as high when it is time to pay taxes, but now states his home is worth much more than it was originally evaluated at. The homeowners stating that there homes are now worth nothing are rediculous. The city should pay for their flood insurance and the loss of value in the home and that is it... "

 Bill Thomas, developer wrote on October 26, 2007 12:49 pm:
" Few people have knowledge of what a developer actually does in their job, and it's clear from the first few posts here that these people do not. Let a developer educate you. The developer, when surveying and preparing the land for development, relies on the government for direction about flood plains. It is not the developer's job to survey for flood plains. The city or county provides information about the flood plain from FEMA's flood plain maps. It is not the developer's fault that the land was developed in the flood plain if the developer was never told the land was in a flood plain, which clearly happened here. Why? Because there are federal regulations about developing and building in a flood plain and they were not followed here. This is 100 PERCENT the city's fault. Had the developer or builder known that this was a flood plain, those homes would be on pilings -- huge pieces of wood on which the home rests, sunk deep into the ground to secure the home above the flood plain level. If more people actually knew the precautions developers and builders take to provide safge andsecure homes for the public, most of you would be ashamed at how derisive you normally are toward developers. Of course, you never remember that without the developer, you'd be living in a tent. "

 NonResident wrote on October 26, 2007 1:06 pm:
" Courts should remove any statute of limitations on collectin damages related to this matter. I think it is bad enough the homeowners were allowed to build on the site with the city's blessing, now the city want to use the statute of limitations to escape from liability. What a bunch of hypocrites!! "

 New York Baby wrote on October 26, 2007 1:33 pm:
" So how many more McPointe lots are going to flood? Darn you developers and weasly city workers....My taxes are half of what my son pays - but his California house is worth five times more than mine. I need to get outta here. "

 sally mae wrote on October 26, 2007 3:43 pm:
" It's refreshing to hear that the development community agrees that the highest standard of notification by the City should happen re floodplains. Just wondering why some of these people testified against floodplain standards which would create natural riperian buffers so building was not allowed too close to streams like this. Or why, when new technical data was available to update floodplain maps throughout the county which might adjust some of those mystical, magical (and invisible) lines, some business leaders wanted a delay in submitting that info to FEMA for approval. Can't have it both ways. "

 Glad to be gone wrote on October 26, 2007 4:16 pm:
" Great post, Bill! The city is totally at fault here. Their incompetence cost everyone and should be liable for the entire cost of the properties. Lincoln taxpayers, what you paid for is incompetent city government that can't keep track of their own property records. Now, we're going to get stuck with the damages. People at Building and Safety need to be fired for this. Pure neglegence. "

 Douglas wrote on October 27, 2007 5:36 am:
" Why are we being so evasive here? One person signed the building permit. Don't they havew a name? "

 Neighbor wrote on October 27, 2007 6:49 am:
" In an ideal world, homebuilders, particularly in a situation where there is an obvious isse such as next to a stream, would hire an independant engineer to do soils tests, site assessments, etc. Even a trained engineer would have, however, used the most recent map, usually a FEMA map, for floodplain delineation. Clearly the City is at fault here, particularly since they dragged their feet for years updating the existing floodplain maps. "

 I am very concerned about this wrote on October 27, 2007 8:25 am:
" We have had the ambulance fiasco, then the fire truck debacle, we have had high priced people counting poppy mallows. We have flooded houses. We have over payment of consultants. We have higher property assessed avaluations, but declining values. And the people who make these decisions are now going to tell us to build an arena and a convention center is a place where there is not easy traffic access. i could support the arena, and possibly even the convention center, if they were proposed some place where traffic is not a problem, such as 84th street. And with the state fair wanting to move there anyway, why not???????? "

 umm wrote on October 27, 2007 7:12 pm:
" Apparently it isn't a developers job to think independently and question information that is provided to him or her. Look I'm not a developer but I would think someone that is could tell fairly easily if an area is prone to flooding, frankly I know I can. If a developer isn't capable enough to review a landscape and have some serious questions about a build site and if a developer isn't concerned enough to relay those concerns to a potential customer then said developer has no business being in the business. From a legal standpoint perhaps it is 100 percent the city's fault, but from an ethical and good business practice standpoint that's just crap. "

 pdl wrote on October 27, 2007 9:55 pm:
" Purely foolish that they don't have another updated map on hand or couldn't get a replacement before making a decision based on old information. Get the updated information and get rid of the old map. Common sense. "

 Pezzie wrote on October 27, 2007 10:39 pm:
" While I agree the city has to take some blame for this, I also feel that the contractors should investigate themselves, never trusting the city. They should have doublechecked the cities records, perhaps they would have caught this before building. All contractors and home builders should be aware that this is an issue in this area. Double check your facts before putting in the first nail. "

 This is nuts.... wrote on October 27, 2007 11:03 pm:
" Anyone with three brain cells can tell this area is ripe for flooding... it is not my responsability (as a taxpayer) to pay for your stupidity. "

 John wrote on November 14, 2007 11:42 pm:
" Our mayor has been replacing people left and right in his government. Mr. Mayor, Why are the people responsible for this fiasco drawing a paycheck from the city? "

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