September 7, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FLOOD-PRONE APARTMENTS TO BECOME FLOODPLAIN OPEN SPACE

Charlotte, NC – When the drought finally ends in Charlotte, one thing is certain: the Reese Road Apartments will not flood again.

The apartments nestled between Little Sugar Creek and Park Road Shopping Center have flooded at least six times since 1979. The most recent flood was in August 2006. To protect lives and property, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services' bulldozers will tear down the pair of two-story buildings:

- Monday, September 10
- 10 a.m.
- 1317 and 1321 Reese Road (off Park Road just north of Woodlawn Road)

Mecklenburg County bought the Reese Road Apartments through Storm Water Services' Floodplain Buyout Program. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides matching grant money to buy and remove flood-prone structures that meet certain criteria. Acquisition and demolition of the Reese Road Apartments is expected to cost $460,000. FEMA grant money is paying 75%. County Storm Water fees will pay the remaining 25%. The cost includes relocation help for qualified residents of the seven apartments.

The Floodplain Buyout Program is voluntary. Often, property owners in floodplains want to sell because of devastating flood losses and high flood insurance rates, but cannot find buyers. The most effective way to reduce repeated flood damage is for local governments to buy the highest-risk buildings and remove them. The floodplain then becomes open space. Taxpayers save money because of fewer emergency response calls to flooded property and fewer claims made against the federally-backed National Flood Insurance Program.

Earlier this decade, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services purchased nearly 70-flood-prone properties across the creek from the Reese Road Apartments. Those single-family homes in the Myers Park Manor neighborhood were torn down. In their place, the County created wetlands to filter water pollution, restored the path of that section of Little Sugar Creek, and built a popular greenway. Although dozens of homes near Westfield Road remain in the floodplain, the County has now purchased all of the property in that area that meets minimum buyout criteria.

In the past eight years, more than 150 flood-prone buildings along Charlotte-Mecklenburg creeks have been purchased through the voluntary buyout program, saving lives and property.

Photo/video recommendations: The best view of the apartment building, greenway and wetlands is from Westfield Road on the east side of Little Sugar Creek. The best view of the building demolition will be from Reese Road on the west side of the creek.

Media contacts:
Tim Trautman at 704-336-7357 or Tim.Trautman@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Sharon Foote at 704-336-3735 or Sharon.Foote@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.