The Federal Emergency Management Agency has drawn new flood maps for Travis County, and some residents are upset their homes are or are not situated in a flood plain.
Those who are situated in flood plains could face higher insurance rates, and those who are no longer in a flood plain worry their area is now open for development.
FEMA redrew the maps in March and residents have until September to point out any mistakes or ask for changes. The agency ranks Travis County in the top 10 percent of areas in the United States prone to severe flood damage.
Four neighborhood associations near West Bouldin Creek in South Austin plan to contest the new map that takes their area out of the flood plain. The deadline to appeal is Sept. 14.
The Galindo Elementary, Bouldin Creek, South Lamar and Zilker neighborhood associations are all jointly appealing the flood plain maps near West Bouldin Creek. They say a 14-acre space near the creek was written out of the flood plain.
"Every engineer that we've talked to says a flood plain just can't disappear. It just doesn't happen; a flood plain just can't disappear," homeowner Chuck Mains said.
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New flood plain maps
Four neighborhood associations near West Bouldin Creek plan to contest the new FEMA-drawn flood plain map.
 
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Mains lives in the Galindo Elementary neighborhood next to Bouldin Creek, but has never had his property flooded.
Neighbors say what's protected them in the past is the 14-acre area of untouched land that serves as a natural retention pond, a buffer between the flooding water and the creek.
Mains and others can't understand why the space isn't considered flood-prone anymore, and wonders if it was drawn out on purpose.
"Now that it’s not a flood plain anymore … What it means is they're allowed to develop on the site," Mains said.
Mains worries it'll make the flooding problems worse.
"That water's got to go somewhere else. All of our houses are going to be in danger now that they're building 11 lots on that flood plain," he said.
George Oswald, with the City of Austin's Watershed Department, oversees the new maps. He said new technology shows the area isn't technically a flood plain anymore.
"The old floodplain maps were drawn in error. They were done 20 years ago … and the [new] development itself is not going to worsen flood plain conditions,” he said.
Oswald said developers building on the 14-acre site will also add new infrastructure that should keep flooding at bay by managing offsite flow with two detention ponds.
FEMA contracts with a local private company to redraw the flood maps, but the city of Austin's Watershed Department had some oversight.
