Public Comment Period Notice for Proposed Dare County Elevation Project

Dare County has applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) federal grant funding in the form of a Hazard Mitigation Grant.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), federal actions must be reviewed and evaluated for feasible alternatives for social, economic, historic, environmental, legal, and safety considerations. Under Executive Order (EO) 11988 and EO 11990, FEMA is required to consider alternatives to and provide public notices of any proposed actions in or affecting floodplains or wetlands. EO 12892 also requires FEMA to provide an opportunity for public participation in the planning process and to consider potential impacts to minority or low-income populations.

Funding for the proposed project will be conditional upon compliance with all applicable federal, tribal, state and local laws, regulations, floodplain standards, permit requirements and conditions.

Applicant: Dare County, North Carolina

Project Title: Dare County Elevation Project

Location of Proposed Work: The area affected by this project consists of approximately nine properties located on the following streets in Dare County: NC Highway 12, Burnside Road, East Ario Street, Dogwood Lane, Dogwood Circle, Colington Drive, Hickman Road, and West Kitty Hawk Road.

Maps of the project areas associated with the grant applications can be reviewed by contacting Mr. Brent Johnson at 252.475.5628.

Proposed Work and Purpose:
The finished floors of the residential structures will be elevated above the base flood elevation with required free board to reduce the impacts of flooding events.

Project Alternatives:
Not taking a mitigation action is an option, but not an acceptable one. The reason for rejecting the No Action Alternative is that doing so will not mitigate any risks.  The entire project area would remain in danger from future flood events.

The second alternative is to acquire the structures. These homeowners do not want to abandon their homes or communities and there are high up-front costs. Therefore, the most effective mitigation action is to elevate the structures in-place from the high-risk area.

Comment Period: Comments are solicited from the public, local, state or federal agencies, and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of the proposed project. The comments should be made in writing and addressed to: Dare County, Attn.: Mr. Brent Johnson, P.O. Box 1000, Manteo, NC 27954. Comments may be emailed to brent.johnson@darenc.com. All comments are due by March 1, 2020.