Flood woes bypass McMinnville
Published: March 4, 1999 By PAT FORGEY Of the News-Register
So far this year water flowing across the ball fields at Joe Dancer Park has taken down a fence and washed out part of a gravel road. In 1996 things were even worse, and most of the park was covered by the overflowing South Yamhill River.
"We were pretty well hammered down there then," said Jay Pearson, McMinnville's parks and recreation director.
Damage from '96 flooding cost $57,000 to repair. The park's roads had to be repaired, ball fields rebuilt and bleachers replaced. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the city's insurance paid $46,500 of cost. This year's damage might be about $1,000.
Compare that to Tillamook, where the Highway 101 business district suffered millions of dollars of damage in 1996 and was inundated yet again this winter, and it's clear why FEMA officials praise the city of McMinnville and its decisions to allow nothing but parks and open space in the city's floodplains.
"McMinnville was way ahead of its time," said Mark Eberlein, mitigation programs specialist with FEMA responsible for Oregon communities.
"They had a vision that other communities are just now starting to implement," he said.
The difference, say McMinnville city officials, were the decisions the city made years ago barring development in the floodplains of the North and South Yamhill rivers, Cozine Creek, Baker Creek and their tributaries.
"It's been recognized by the folks at FEMA as one of the better ordinances in the state, and is often referred to as a model for other committees to follow," said Doug Montgomery McMinnville city planner.
Tillamook city planners say that development is no longer allowed in the floodplain in their town, but existing businesses remain and many are regularly flooded, even during lesser storms.
McMinnville has never allowed such development, Montgomery said.
"I'd like to take credit for it, but it was something the town forefathers did years before I got here," he said.
McMinnville is on the "cutting edge" in managing floodplain development, according to Eberlein, helping lower the costs to the federal agency of cleaning up after disasters, and reducing costs to the federal National Flood Insurance Program.
Since 1978, the flood insurance program has paid claims of $223 for damage in McMinnville, compared to $234,000 for Yamhill County as a whole and $42.2 million statewide.
Cutting those costs is a major FEMA goal.
"Breaking the disaster-rebuild-disaster cycle in the United States is FEMA's top priority," according to the agency.
In some cases, FEMA disaster money isn't available to rebuild structures over and over again.
McMinnville got much of its parks damage paid for, however, because land-use planners like to see floodplains used - if they're used at all - for relatively flood-proof functions.
In Lower City Park, which also floods regularly, the only damage in 1996 was the loss of a $206 irrigation clock. "Right now, it's pretty flood-proof," Pearson said.
Each spring, city crews have to hose the mud out of Lower City Park's picnic shelters, but that's about the extent of needed maintenance.
Sometimes FEMA goes even further, and tries to find permanent ways to avoid paying for damages, Eberlein said. "FEMA's going out and buying homes now to remove them from floodplains."
McMinnville also has an advantage over Tillamook and many other cities. It's relatively easy to tell where the river ends and the uplands begin.
"McMinnnville is very fortunate that their flood plain is very well defined," Eberlein said.
McMinn-ville also has substantial uplands, compared to say, Sheridan, where significant parts of the city are in the floodplain.
FEMA officials also say that keeping development out of the floodplain means that the areas are available for flood-water storage, minimizing the impact of flooding on neighbors.
Protecting the river's floodplain also can benefit wildlife, something that's becoming increasingly important with potential federal Endangered Species Act protections for steelhead in the Yamhill River system.
"If you let the river flow naturally through its floodplain, you're going to increase fish habitat," Eberlein said.
And Pearson said that while the city needs additional upland ball fields that would be available year-round, it couldn't afford the same amount of upland acreage as floodplain land it now uses for parks.
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