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Village of Lansing Trustees enacted a flood damage prevention law in their a meeting last Monday that largely dealt with issues of storm water and flooding..  The law will enable Village residents to purchase flood insurance.  The law has been exactly a year in coming since resident Don Lein approached the board to ask them to do what is necessary so that residents can get the insurance.  Lein had tried to buy a policy only to be told by his agent that he could not get it because the Village wasn't registered with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Part of the holdup was that Village officials have had a hard time getting the right information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  Once officials finally learned what they needed to do, it took some time for Village Attorney David Dubow to review and amend a 29 page model law provided by the New York Department of Environmental Concervation (DEC) to make it consistent with existing Village law.  Having a flood damage prevention law on the books is a requirement before a municipality can register.

The history of Village eligibility is spotty.  Before the Village incorporated residents were covered because the Town of Lansing is registered.  But as a separate municipality the Village must register again.  Trustee John O'Neill, who has spearheaded the effort to make Village residents eligible to buy flood insurance, discovered in late May of last year that the Village considered registering with NFIP twenty years ago, but saw no need.

Trustees were bemused by the length of the law, in part because Code Enforcement/Zoning Officer Ben Curtis has noted that only a small corner of the Village near Cayuga Lake is truly effected by it.  But some Trustees disagreed, saying that flooding can happen anywhere and the law will protect the whole Village.  "It will happen if we have the 100 year flood," O'Neill said.  "The insurance phrase is 'rising water.'  It could be in a basement."

"It could occur from a water main break," added Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski.  "It could be throughout the Village."

Dubow noted that Curtis's concern has to do with construction permits that will now be required in the lake area.  "He would have to exercise some administrative decision with respect to that," Dubow said.  "There is only one spot where that permit application is likely to be required.  the rest of this is general flood damage prevention, and it gives homeowners the opportunity to purchase flood insurance."

County officials made recommendations for changes to the proposed law, but Trustees passed it as-is, fearing more holdups if they strayed from a law that the DEC had already approved and blessed.  Dubow noted that the changes were not vital to a law that Trustees view as simply a mechanism to allow their residents get flood insurance they want.  "This model law has been vetted at the DEC," Dubow said.  "It is their recommendation.  I think this is not going to affect the Village dramatically."

Once a copy of the law is sent to the appropriate agencies the Village will qualify to register with NFIP.  Only after that is done will Village residents be able to obtain flood insurance.

Trustee Lynn Leopold reported on this year's annual report to the DEC on keeping the Village in compliance with state storm water management requirements.  In contrast with last year's report, Leopold said that the Village is in good shape with regard to these requirements, and that onerous reporting rules are being relaxed so that all the municipalities in Tompkins County can report together, rather than duplicating the reports as they have until now.

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