# Grand River - Feds offer to buy flooded properties



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Feds offer to buy flooded properties 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1121265967307100.xml

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 By Greg Chandler and Ed Ronco The Grand Rapids Press

OTTAWA COUNTY -- Robinson Township property owners flooded out of their homes last winter by a Grand River ice jam soon will get an offer to buy their land. 

The prospective buyer: the government. 

Whether property owners will accept the deal depends on how sweet it is, some say.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved about $5 million in disaster-mitigation grants to buy homes and vacant lots along Van Lopik Avenue and Limberlost Lane, and demolish the structures, Ottawa County officials announced Tuesday. 

The agency will release those funds once a routine environmental and historic review of the area is completed, Ottawa County Emergency Management Director Bill Smith said. 

With local matching funds, the total dollar amount to be offered for the 60 properties will be about $6 million. They include 46 homes and 14 vacant lots. 

While all 60 property owners signed on to be included in the federal grant program, it will be up to each property owner whether to sell. 

Earl Hilaski does not plan to go anywhere. 

Hilaski, 72, is upset FEMA's grant will give owners only 75 percent of a property's value. 

"I don't think anybody down here's going to sell for 75 cents on the dollar," said Hilaski, who along with his wife, Nancy, has lived in the 11600 block of Van Lopik for more than 25 years. "We formed an association and got ourselves a lawyer and everything." 

Hilaski estimated only 10 property owners would take the government's deal. 

Township and county officials were looking at other funding sources -- including foundation grants -- to make up the remaining 25 percent, so the entire burden would not fall to owners. 

No details on that progress was available Tuesday, but the county parks department considered paying 5 percent -- reducing property owners' share to 20 percent -- with an eye toward creating a linear park along the river. No decision has been made. 

Smith said he remained hopeful "adequate funding for fair market value" would be found for all sites in the area. 

Robinson Township officials plan to hold a meeting soon to update residents on details of the FEMA grant. 

Township Supervisor Bernice Berens said she was "thankful" to hear news of the grant. 

"At least the people will have an opportunity to make a decision (on whether to sell their properties)," she said. 

It was unclear when homeowners would have to decide on the government's offer. 

Thirteen homes were destroyed and 19 others suffered major damage in the flooding, which began Jan. 18. 

"That area has experienced 12 flooding events in the last 10 years," Smith said. "There will be future flooding events (in that area). There's no question about that."


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Per conversations and previous earlier articles not posted:
I remember discussing that if several properties could be purchased then there would be the possibility of more public access along the river something like a linear riverside park or public easement. We'll see what happens over next few months or couple years.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Feds offer to buy 60 flooded properties - 08/04/05 
$5 million may be used to purchase and destroy homes in Ottawa County ruined during winter '04.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/04/B06-269078.htm

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP -- The federal government has offered to buy 60 low-lying properties in Ottawa County's Robinson Township that were flooded for weeks because of an ice jam on the Grand River. 
Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to provide two grants totaling $5,082,971. 

The money is to be used toward purchasing the properties and demolishing the homes damaged by last winter's flooding. 

Thirteen homes were destroyed and 19 others suffered major damage in the flooding, which began Jan. 18 and lasted until the spring thaw. 

FEMA will release the funds after the completion of a routine environmental and historic review of the area, Ottawa County Emergency Management Director Bill Smith told the Grand Rapids Press. 

When combined with local matching funds, about $6 million will be offered for the properties, which include 46 homes and 14 vacant lots. 

While all 60 affected property owners signed on to be included in the federal grant program, it will be up to each property owner whether to sell.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Few flooded residents taking buyout 

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1125416741174670.xml&coll=8

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 By Terry Judd CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

Only 13 out of 60 property owners in the flood-prone Van Lopik Avenue and Limberlost Lane subdivisions have agreed so far to a buyout offer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

As of Monday, 13 property owners have said they would sell, eight have said they would not sell and 12 remain undecided. The figures do not include four parcels on Limberlost Lane the state Department of Transportation intends to buy for a proposed Grand River bridge off 120th Avenue. 

The remaining 23 property owners have yet to respond. Ottawa County officials had hoped to hear from all of the property owners by Friday, but county planner Mark Knudsen said that was an arbitrary deadline. He said they will be given at least until the end of September to accept or reject a preliminary statement of voluntary participation.

"Friday was a self-imposed deadline just to get a number and to make sure where we're at," Knudsen said. "We obviously are going to extend that because we did not hear from everyone." 

Last month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved about $5 million to buy homes and vacant lots along Van Lopik Avenue and Limberlost Lane and demolish the structures. Knudsen said FEMA grant funds will be available regardless of how many homeowners agree to the buyout. Initially, county officials believed FEMA grants would be available only if a majority of the homeowners wanted to sell. 

FEMA's grant will give homeowners only 75 percent of a property's value. With local matching funds, the total dollar amount to be offered for the 60 properties will be about $6 million. They include 46 homes and 14 vacant lots. Knudsen said the sale price of homes will be based either on fair market value or the state equalized value, whichever is higher. 

About 50 homes in the Limberlost and Van Lopik subdivisions had to be evacuated Jan. 18 when water levels on the Grand River rose above the 13.3-foot flood stage. Levels peaked at 18.3 feet Jan. 21. Although owners have been allowed back to their homes to conduct repair work, they have not been allowed to reoccupy their homes because sewers have been capped. 

In June, Michigan Department of Transportation Director Gloria Jeff said properties in the two subdivisions were being eyed for a new Grand River crossing as part of the proposed U.S. 31 bypass. The properties would mark the first real-estate deals made by MDOT for the bypass, although the exact number of parcels to be purchased is not yet known. 

Knudsen said it is important to find out the number of property owners willing to sell if the county is going to consider any local matches. He said the Parks and Recreation Commission is considering making up a portion of the 25 percent shortfall homeowners will receive for their property if enough accept the buyout so parks can be created in the affected area. 

If only a few accept the buyout, then parks officials most likely will not be interested in participating, Knudsen said. The grant period is for three years.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

County helps buy land

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1146062823190220.xml&coll=6

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 The Grand Rapids Press

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP -- 

Ottawa County parks will kick in up to $430,000 in matching funds toward efforts to buy flood-affected properties along Van Lopik Avenue and Limberlost Lane. County commissioners approved the contribution, which represents a 7 percent match of up to $6 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants that were approved last year. About 50 properties on the two streets were flooded in January 2005 after an ice jam on the Grand River. "(The parks department) has identified it as part of the future greenway system. It's no kind of bail-out or welfare whatsoever," County Administrator Al Vanderberg said.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Robinson sued over alleged flood takeover plan

Perhaps the most serious claim is one that has been echoed by other residents since the January flood of the two streets in 2005. The lawsuit indicates that Ottawa County and Robinson Township had a plan to remove homeowners on both Limberlost and Van Lopik from their homes in order to turn the Grand River waterfront property into a green space, a situation township officials have steadfastly denied since the flood occurred.

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/289582250176098.bsp


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Robinson moving ahead on buying homes

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP  The move by Robinson Township to purchase flooded-out homes is still pushing through, after the Township Board accepted a revised Federal Emergency Management Agency grant budget Monday night. 

The more than $6.2 million FEMA grant will pay for 75 percent of the fair market value of parcels in the Limberlost and Van Lopik subdivisions, should homeowners there choose to sell their property to the township rather than make costly repairs to elevate their homes.

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/295479535490832.bsp


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Those people knew they were buying homes in a flood area. Why does it fall on the taxpayers to buy them out, so they can live somewhere where they don't get flooded every couple of years? And why would any of those residents sue the government for offering them buyouts at "only" 75% of the appraised value of their homes? 

Let the people who don't want to move stay. Let them fund the repairs they will need to make every couple of years; or let them pay the astronomical insurance premiums they would have to pay to be insured against the guaranteed floods they will experience. 

Doesn't anyone have to be responsible for their decisions anymore?


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