Is there a long range plan for improving and developing the north side fringe flood plain areas?
There is a plan for improving flood protection for the North Side. It is not yet clear if it will be possible to remove any significant areas from floodplain designation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers evaluated a flood protection system for the North Side in 1988, and determined the benefit/cost ratio for the project was 0.64, considerably less than 1.0, meaning the costs were greater than the benefits. Federal projects can proceed only if the benefits of the project are greater than the costs. There was communication between the City and Corps of Engineers in 1989 indicating the project could be re-evaluated if the City made significant flood protection improvements, which would reduce the cost of the overall project, therefore improving the cost-benefit ratio. It is our hope that the City can improve both the dikes and the pumping capacity over time to a point where the benefit/cost ratio reaches 1.0. The dike and pumping improvements will improve flood protection even if they do
