Conservancy District Begins Process to Secure Grant Funding for Levee Projects

The goal is to bring Greendale and Lawrenceburg levees back to FEMA standards.

Photo by Travis Thayer, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - Grant chasing has begun to support certification efforts for both Greendale and Lawrenceburg levees. 

On Monday night, the Lawrenceburg Conservancy District (LCD) went to Lawrenceburg City Council requesting at least two members start joining meetings regarding the grant chasing process. 

Superintendent Paul Seymour told City Council that the Conservancy District has projects on both levees. The LCD recently hired JMT, which has been doing all the studies for Greendale and has an in-staff grant team qualified to chase grants. As of Monday, engineers have estimated it will cost over $60 million to bring both levees back to FEMA standards. 

It is recommended that LCD go after a combined grant to fund projects at both levees.

"I believe it will be a participating grant, but we are not limiting ourselves to any type of grant, a number of them, whatever we can get. What we have been told is that when you chase a grant of this magnitude, you need community effort," said Seymour. "We need all the entities involved in this." 

That is why the LCD is seeking support from Lawrenceburg, Greendale, and the county. 

Greendale and Lawrenceburg levees have been designated as Provisionally Accredited Levees (PAL) since 2010. PAL is a designation for a levee system that FEMA has previously accredited as providing base flood hazard reduction on an effective FIRM, but for which FEMA is awaiting additional data and/or documentation to show compliance with NFIP regulations. 

An accredited levee is one that FEMA shows on a FIRM as providing protection from the one percent-annual-chance or greater flood, based on the required data and documentation. Certification allows communities and structures to be removed from "Special Flood Hazard Areas" and eliminates mandatory flood insurance purchase regulations. 

According to Seymour, securing grant funding would go a long way to getting the levees certified. He added that there are 160 relief wells around town that are the "weak spot." 

"We got new flood gates, our pump stations are great, the levee is in good shape, our collector system is in good shape, but everyone in her knows when things get to be 85 years old, they ain't in as good shape as they were. So, what we are shooting for is a complete relief well system," said Seymour. "This is the opportune time. If we are chasing this, we should make the attempt to make this levee as strong as it was in 1940. The only thing we are lacking is 85-year-old relief wells."

Meetings to dive deeper into the issue could start in the next two to three weeks. Lawrenceburg plans to send Councilmen Tony Abbott and Dylan Liddle to the meetings.