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Portland and South Portland hope to change new designations that would put tight limits on pier construction.

By TOM BELL, Staff Writer September 5, 2009

PORTLAND — The cities of Portland and South Portland are cooperating in an effort to challenge the Federal Emergency Management Agency proposal for new flood insurance maps for Portland Harbor.

The maps reclassify the harbor as a high-risk zone and effectively prohibit new construction on all of the city's private and public piers. They would also raise insurance rates for property owners on both sides of the harbor.

The two cities are urging FEMA to re-examine its data and methodology and have hired a consultant to develop additional analysis.

At the same time, Portland officials are asking the Maine congressional delegation to consider revamping the law to protect urban waterfronts.

"Our position is that Portland's waterfront is different," said Penny St. Louis Littell, the city's planning director. "It's a working waterfront, an economic hub."

Portland Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne plans to visit Washington, D.C., next week to meet with FEMA officials and the Maine delegation. The Homeland Security staff of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is arranging the meeting, said Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley.

Although Collins supports FEMA's efforts to modernize outdated flood maps, he said, the senator is encouraging FEMA to work more closely with local communities before imposing solutions that fail to account for local conditions.

"That is why she is facilitating further discussions between FEMA and the city of Portland in an effort to resolve the differences," he said.

In its proposed map, the agency reclassifies Portland Harbor from an "A-zone" to a "V-zone."

In an "A-zone," the bottom floor must be raised a foot above a 100-year flood: a flood with a 1 percent chance of occurring or being exceeded in a given year.

Velocity flood zones, or "V-zones," are areas where FEMA believes waves or high velocity water could cause structural damage in a 100-year flood.

In a V-zone, new structures cannot be built on piers and wharfs that are over water. In addition, an existing structure on a pier or wharf could not be substantially rebuilt if it were damaged or destroyed. The improvements cannot exceed 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the start of construction.

Portland officials say FEMA's analysis of Portland Harbor is flawed because the agency chose a section of the shore east of the Maine State Pier to conduct its analysis of how the ocean and shore would interact in a storm.

Officials say FEMA hasn't taken into account how much calmer the harbor is farther to the west and that the agency has not factored in the ocean-calming influence of the harbor's numerous piers and wharves.

At the urging of the city, FEMA did a second analysis recently looking at how a 100-year storm would affect the area near the Portland Fish Pier. The original analysis concluded that a such a storm would produce 5-foot waves. The second analysis found that the waves would be 3 feet, 3 inches high – just barely high enough to qualify for the V-zone designation. The cut-off is 3 feet.

The cities of Portland and South Portland have hired Bob Gerber, an environmental engineer with Sebago Technics of Westbrook, to further analyze the FEMA data.

"Some of the FEMA data is pretty good," Gerber said. "Some of it is pretty far-fetched. It's kind of a mixed bag."

Portland is paying $10,000 for the study, and South Portland is paying $5,000.

According to federal law, property owners who have a mortgage from a federally regulated lender must obtain flood insurance if the new maps put their properties in a flood zone, said Tex Haeuser, South Portland's planning and development director.

He said property owners can take advantage of a cost-saving option that allows them to "grandfather" in at their current, lower risk zone and pay a lower rate for flood insurance.

A homeowner whose property is slated to go...