Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993                   TAG: 9312140201
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FLOOD POLICIES IN LIMBO

Roanoke has been suspended from the national flood insurance program by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which says that the city failed to meet an Oct. 15 deadline for revising its flood-plain regulations.

As a result, no building owner in Roanoke will be able to purchase a flood insurance policy or renew an existing policy.

City officials said the suspension apparently was triggered by a misunderstanding of the documents they have submitted to the federal agency to show what the city has done.

They expect the city to be quickly reinstated once FEMA understands that the requested changes have been made.

"This seems to be a case of some federal bureaucrats not understanding how local government works," said City Attorney Wilburn Dibling.

"We have sent them everything they need, and we have explained in detail what we have done," Dibling said.

But Etta Sims, a community planner with FEMA, said Monday she has not received a certified or final copy of the city's changes.

Under the flood-insurance program, localities are required to make periodic changes in flood-plain regulations to help reduce flood damages.

The changes involve zoning and restrictions on development in the flood plain. The city has no objection to the changes, approved in October.

But Sims said she has not received the final documents.

"I received the draft documents, and they seemed OK, but I don't have anything final," she said. "They haven't submitted it in the proper format."

John Marlles, chief of community planning for the city, said there have been several pieces of correspondence with Sims about the issue.

"She wanted to know when the ordinance would take effect. Our ordinances take effect 10 days after they are passed, unless a date is specified," Marlles said. "She thought there should be a date in it."

The suspension does not affect property owners whose flood insurance does not come up for renewal during the period while the city is suspended, Sims said.

"We will reinstate their eligibility once we have an adopted ordinance or a certified copy," Sims said.