LEESVILLE, La. (AP) - Vernon Parish residents have until Friday to sign up for a program that will buy property damaged by last year’s flooding.
The program, being offered through the Vernon Police Jury and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, is being funded by a grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It will offer residents living in a flood zone the fair market value for their property before March’s devastating floods struck.
Parish secretary Belinda Diehl tells The American Press (https://bit.ly/2jYU1Nl ) the program is voluntary. Residents who sign up by Friday will reserve the right to change their minds and remove themselves later, she said.
“No one is committed to this by signing up by this Friday,” Diehl said. “Nothing about this step in the process is final.”
The Police Jury is still in the application process for the grant that will reimburse the parish for 75 percent of the costs of the land buyout. And the Sabine River Authority has already pledged to pay for the 25 percent of total costs that the parish would be required to provide on its own.
“This is a great deal for the residents, because ordinarily that 25 percent would have to come straight from us or the agency might withhold that 25 percent from the amount offered to the homeowners,” Diehl said. “Thanks to the SRA, that won’t happen. Homeowners will be able to get the full amount that they deserve, and it is saving the Police Jury a lot of money.”
According to Greg Wobbe of MPTX, a hazard mitigation company brought in by the Police Jury to assist with the application process, the total plan may take up to two years.
“I think two years is what it will take for this to run full-circle, which would include demolitions and closing out the grant,” Wobbe said. “But I think residents could see assistance coming their way sooner than that.”
So far the response for the program has been “moderate,” but participants are being cooperative throughout the process, he said.
Vernon Parish will submit its application to GOHSEP by Feb. 13. The state will then turn it over to FEMA later in the spring, and hopes are that word of approval may come by this summer.
If the program is approved, Diehl said, the acquired lands will become parish property.
For more information on the program, call MPTX at 318-238-6811.
___
Information from: American Press, https://www.americanpress.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.