| Kinston-Lenoir County
Acquisition Project - Sustainable Redevelopment
(The date of this is unknown, but is likely to be in early 2000, as Hurricane Floyd struck North Carolina in September, 1999.) The City of Kinston, situated on the banks of the Neuse River, is the county seat and retail and manufacturing center of Lenoir County. For the past three decades, Kinston's population and economy have been stagnant due to a combination of factors: an eroding tax base, reduced educational opportunities, increasing numbers of low- to moderate-income families, and the difficulty in providing affordable services. A Community at Risk to Flooding Compounding the economic distress in Kinston-Lenoir County is the community's vulnerability to flooding. Most of the City of Kinston is located in the 50-year floodplain. When the flooding from Hurricane Floyd inundated the county on September 15-16, 1999, Kinston was in the midst of recovering from Hurricane Fran, which struck three years earlier. Hurricane Fran, which dumped 16 inches of rain in the Neuse River Basin in September 1996, caused major flooding and economic disruption. More than 400 homes, dozens of businesses, and public infrastructure sustained major flood damages, with total losses estimated in the tens of millions of dollars. The community also experienced major environmental problems, caused in part by the failure of the sewage treatment plant, which resulted in major spills of raw and partially treated sewage into the Neuse River. In short, the unprecedented property damage and economic losses, coupled with the substantial social, economic, and environmental problems, created enormous challenges for local officials who have accepted the responsibility for developing a recovery strategy for Kinston-Lenoir County. Acquisition/Relocation Strategy The recovery effort for Kinston-Lenoir County following Hurricane Fran was guided by two objectives: 1) To substantially or permanently reduce flood hazards in Kinston-Lenoir County; and 2) To revitalize existing residential neighborhoods and business development in a long-term effort to empower citizens to be self-sufficient, and in the process to improve their quality of life. The centerpiece of the recovery and redevelopment strategy for Kinston-Lenoir County from hurricanes Fran and Floyd is the acquisition of more than 400 residential structures, three mobile home parks, and 68 vacant lots. The goal is to permanently eliminate repetitive flood hazards and public safety risks in Kinston-Lenoir County. The acquisition project, among the largest ever undertaken, is a multi-year effort that will cost approximately $31 million, of which $15 million will be funded through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, $12 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and HUD Disaster Recovery Initiative (DRI) funds, and $4 million in state funds. Improving the Quality of Life At the outset, the goal of this initiative has been to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Kinston-Lenoir County through a multi-objective approach to hazard mitigation and sustainable development. The strategy has been to integrate and leverage federal, state and community-based resources to carry out programs that not only move families out of the floodplains, but also addresses affordable housing, employment, job training, the economical use of renewable resources, and self-sufficiency. Hurricane Floyd: An Opportunity to Measure Losses Avoided Through the Acquisition of Flood-Prone Properties On September 22, 1999, the Neuse River crested at 38.6 feet or 11 feet above normal river levels, and the citizens of Kinston-Lenoir County once again experienced the full impact of torrential rains and flooding - the byproducts of Hurricane Floyd. The flooding from Hurricane Floyd (and Hurricane Dennis), which crested over three feet higher than Hurricane Fran, is considered to be between a 50-year and a 100-year flood event. The extent of flooding was greater than Hurricane Fran, notably on the south side of town, where more than 400 homes sustained major flood damages. Business losses were higher in Hurricane Floyd. The Central Business District and outlying business areas were submerged under several feet of water, causing damages to an estimated 200 businesses. Recovery efforts for homes and businesses were slowed by damages to infrastructure - including roads, bridges and the flooding of the town's two wastewater treatment plants. Approximately 100 of the houses in the three-phase acquisition program for the City of Kinston had been acquired and vacated prior to Hurricane Floyd. With the flooding that occurred, over 95 percent of the acquired homes would have been inundated, with over 75 percent of the acquired homes being substantially damaged (defined as having five feet or more of water in the homes). In some houses, the flooding would have been over 10 feet high. As with Washington and Belhaven, the relatively low property values of the Kinston area would have led to the demolition and replacement of the substantially damaged homes, contributing to an existing housing shortage. The losses avoided through acquisition of flood prone properties in Kinston is estimated to be over $6 million. The reduction in the repair and replacement cost of flooded homes accounted for almost one-half of the avoided loss. The building repair/replacement cost estimates were based on the average construction costs of the region, and damage formulas developed by FEMA. For Kinston, the average construction cost is assumed to be $45 per square foot. Losses Avoided Over $1.1 million in losses associated with damaged contents were avoided due to the buyout program. Of the losses that were avoided, approximately 25 percent of the savings are attributed to the reduction in "displacement costs" - defined as the costs that are allocated to households to support them while their homes are being repaired. Average displacement expenses were estimated at $1,250 per month per household. The program costs related to the acquisition and relocation of the 100 homes in the city of Kinston was approximately $2.1 million. The avoided losses from this single event were substantially higher than the total program cost to date. Of the 150 houses that remain to be acquired in Kinston as part of the three-phase buyout program, 99 were damaged in the September floods, with 84 of these classified as substantially damaged. Kinston's Urban Growth Plan: Linking Redevelopment and Mitigation Hurricane Floyd clearly demonstrated that acquisition and relocation (or demolition) of flood-prone properties will reduce damages and losses from future floods. The savings in losses that were avoided in the city of Kinston is conservatively estimated to be approximately $6 million. Building on the tangible progress from the buyout program, the City of Kinston is entering a new phase of community planning and redevelopment, a process that is guided by the following principles: mitigation needs to be fully integrated into the planning and redevelopment process; disaster resistance and economic revitalization can be achieved through "smart growth" and "smart rebuilding" practices smart growth policies and rebuilding practices should be embodied in an officially adopted urban growth plan disaster recovery programs can be an important "implementation vehicle" for the City of Kinston's Urban Growth Plan. On October 10, 1999, the Kinston city council officially adopted the Greater Kinston Urban Growth Plan, which will guide the land use planning process for the next 20 years. The plan is comprehensive. It links and integrates policies and programs that address housing and residential development, economic development, public facilities and utilities, agriculture and rural development, parks and open space, and natural resources and the environment. One of the central goals of the plan is to encourage the economic and social revitalization of downtown Kinston through policies and programs that promote affordable housing and investment in downtown businesses. As one key local official notes, "…what we are trying to do is manage growth in a way that we achieve several complementary goals …from moving families out of the floodplain…increasing the livability of the downtown area of Kinston…to enhancing the tax base in the City…" - Robert Clarke, Planning Director, November 10, 1999. Call Kinston Home - A Grassroots Approach to Community Revitalization In a major move to stimulate investment in downtown Kinston, the city council approved "Call Kinston Home," a residential and redevelopment initiative that is guided by two goals: to promote the city as a desirable place to live and own a home, and secondly to revitalize established neighborhoods. By stimulating investment in existing homes and new dwelling units on in-fill vacant lots, the city hopes to revitalize areas in and around downtown. In essence, Call Kinston Home can play an important role in a phased program to move families out of the floodplain in Kinston, and into safe and affordable homes. The initiative has brought together a broad coalition of partners: local government (Kinston city council and Lenoir county commissioners); quasigovernment agencies (the Kinston Housing Authority); state and federal government (NC Emergency Management (NCEM), NC Department of Corrections and FEMA); civic and professional groups (the Chamber of Commerce and North Carolina Homebuilders Association); and business and industry. In 1998, Call Kinston Home formed a leadership team, developed an action plan and marketing strategy, and identified specific neighborhoods for a pilot program. When Hurricane Floyd struck Kinston and Lenoir County in September 1999, the city had the advantage of a planning process and coalition in place to serve as the foundation for a broader initiative to construct permanent housing in targeted areas within the city limits. Against this backdrop, the NCEM selected Kinston as a pilot for the North Carolina Permanent Housing Initiative. Mitigation Strategy Officially Adopted by Kinston Less than three weeks after Hurricane Floyd struck, the Kinston city council formally adopted a mitigation plan to guide land use decision-making and priority setting. Among the key provisions of the strategy: Expand the Flood Buyout Program. Adopt an interim prohibition of new residential construction, replacements of manufactured homes, rebuilding destroyed or substantially damaged housing in the 100-year floodplain. Prepare a Redevelopment Plan for adoption (by February 2000) in the flood areas of the City of Kinston. Prepare amendments to the Floodplain Regulations (new elevation standards for residential and conservation areas proposed). Investigate new engineering studies of the floodplain to determine the accuracy of previous floodplain mapping. Prepare a master plan for specific areas of the city and growth areas where new investments in housing and economic development can be sponsored or encouraged. Enhance the city's tax base by encouraging and supporting development within the City boundaries. Provide conservation areas within floodplains that can be used for recreation and at the same time improve storm water management. These steps are an integral part of a long-term effort by the City of Kinston to reduce the vulnerability of the remaining 150 properties in Kinston that are exposed to the flood hazard. |