County, townships at odds over land use authority

At a meeting of the Eddy County Zoning Commission on Monday, April 22, members and county officials heard of a situation developing between the county and several township boards.

The issue causing some controversy is whether townships should conduct their own property zoning and floodplain management, or whether they should allow the county to take on those responsibilities.

Eddy County Emergency Manager Lisa Thompson has been reaching out to Eddy County townships for several months, hoping they’ll make a deal with the county or come up with a plan of their own.

At stake, she said, is access to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), an insurance program offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which covers property damage in the event of a flood.

Unlike other insurance options, the NFIP can’t cancel a customer’s insurance as long as they’re paying their premiums – making it an important safety net for property owners near bodies of water, or whose property can be susceptible to overland flooding.

However, in April of last year Thompson talked to a FEMA representative and learned that several county residents who had purchased NFIP insurance were denied claims because their townships didn’t have their floodplain management in order.

For township residents to qualify for NFIP insurance, their townships must have certain ordinances in place for floodplain management and be able to enforce that ordinance. Otherwise, they can sign an agreement that allows the county to take care of it.

At the county level, zoning and floodplain management are part of the same ordinance, and some townships don’t have the necessary ordinances for either.

Therefore, Thompson said three options are available to townships in Eddy County.

Option 1 is for the townships to simply go it on their own, which would require their boards to do significant work to create and enforce their own ordinances for both zoning and floodplain management.

Option 2 is for the township to relinquish only their floodplain management to the county, while retaining all of their zoning authority. In that instance, they still need to have zoning ordinances in place.

Option 3 is for the township to relinquish both their zoning and floodplain management responsibilities to the county.

According to Thompson, all but four townships have made their choice, and most were more than happy to hand over those responsibilities to the county.

The other four townships – Columbia, New Rockford, Sheldon and Hillsdale – have not chosen any option. In fact, Thompson said she’s having a hard time getting in touch with some township boards at all.

“I’m at my wit’s end with them,” said Thompson.

“They don't respond to emails, they don’t respond to texts, they don’t come to meetings. So there’s just nothing more I can do with them.” Thompson believes much of the hold up is that some rural residents aren’t willing to give up whatever zoning authority they have to make decisions about future development projects proposed in their townships.

However, Thompson said the county has no issue with townships retaining their land use authority, so long as they’re capable of doing the work.

“It’s not hard to do the zoning ordinance, but it’s the fact that you are expected to enforce, inspect and do all of the other leg work involved in it,” said Thompson. “If they’re willing to take that on themselves, that’s fine. We just need to ensure the residents in the county have the best and that everything is covered.”

Thompson said she’ll keep trying to make arrangements with the remaining township boards ahead of this summer, but if progress still isn’t made, the county agreed they may just reach out to township residents directly.

They would do so by addressing a letter to each resident, explaining to them the situation and the potential consequences of their township boards’ actions – or in this case, inaction.

When significant overland flooding drowned much of Columbia and other townships in the spring of 2022, several residents were surprised to find they didn’t have access to NFIP insurance, leading to significant financial losses.

Thompson also told how several residents were suddenly handed cancellation notices from their private flood insurance in the winter of 2022-23, as significant snowfall totals were already collapsing roofs and seemed likely to cause flooding in the spring.

“At this point my concern is for the residents of these townships,” said Thompson.

“They’re leaving themselves open,” she added. “Because if I pay $4,000 a year in insurance and then was denied because [the township] didn’t fill out the paperwork, I might be pretty upset if I had a half million dollar claim.”

Following their discussion of the floodplain management situation, the zoning board also took action to create a permit review committee consisting of State’s Attorney Ashley Lies, Auditor Becki Schumacher, Tax Equalization Director Kristy O’Connor and Lisa Thompson.

They also considered increasing the cost of a building permit from $10 to $50, though no action was officially taken.

The next meeting of the Eddy County Zoning Commission is set for Monday, July 1 at 8 a.m.