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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 14, 1997 Page 5 1 drainage system. The cost associated with that level of protection is generally too high 2 relative to the occurrences. 3 2. Evaluating the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of flood proofing the property instead 4 of purchasing it. 5 3. Determining and defining if the purchase of the property provides a public benefit so 6 as to meet the legal requirements of such a purchase. 7 In regard to the Discussion of Prioritization, Mr. Willenbring reported WSB has reviewed the 8 prioritized home buyout list provided by the Task Force for conformance with the criteria 9 utilized, and gave general consideration to the other 50 homes surveyed by the City and 10 identified to have been flooded in the July 1 event. He provided two flood damage inventory 11 tables with a listing of the homes that experienced flood damage. One is sorted by the 12 amount of damage reported in the July 1, 1997 event and the other is sorted by the number of 13 times the homes have been flooded. The review indicates that there is a potential that some 14 of the other 50 homes could rank higher based on these three prioritized criteria than the five 15 identified in the Task Force report. He noted that 2709 Armour Terrace reported their home 16 was flooded more than 20 times, making it the most frequently flooded home in the City, and 17 3503 Edward Street reported that their south basement wall collapsed, one of two homes with 18 reported structural damage. These two homes were not included on the list provided by the 19 Task Force. Mr. Willenbring asked that the Task Force provide WSB with additional 20 information in regard to the ranking of the homes chosen for buyout relative to criteria. 21 In regard to the Analysis of Technical Merits of Constructing Improvements on Property 22 Proposed for Home Buyouts, Mr. Willenbring explained a review of the technical merits of 23 buying these homes to construct improvements in their location to alleviate flooding problems 24 was also undertaken. Interviews were conducted with residents at these locations, the July 1, 25 1997 high water marks were recorded, low building elevations of those homes affected and 26 not affected by flooding in these locations were recorded, and the hydrologic merits of 27 constructing improvements at these locations were reviewed. WSB then reported the problem, 28 the preliminary findings, and proposed actions for each home on the Task Force list. 29 In summary, Mr. Willenbring stated the recommendations of WSB are as follows: 30 1. The public benefit associated with the purchase of these homes be defined. To 31 accomplish this, the City should be broken into thirteen study areas as shown in Figure 32 4. For each area, the regional improvements needed to correct the flooding problems 33 should be evaluated, along with an estimated cost for these improvements. Each of 34 these areas could then be prioritized based on the cost/benefit ratio for each of these 35 public improvements. 36 2. The City define a desired level of flood protection for homes in the City. It must be 37 noted that the July 23, 1987 storm and the July 1, 1997 storm far exceeded any design 38 parameters commonly used in providing flood protection to residents within the Twin 39 Cities' metropolitan area. It is also noted that the City will never be able to guarantee 40 flooding will never take place in a selected location, even if improvements are 41 constructed.