Mayor to Request Hiring Professional Firm to Appeal Flood Maps

The Brick Township council may vote Tuesday night on whether to authorize hiring a professional firm to develop a formal appeal of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood maps.

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said Monday that he will ask the council to pass a resolution that authorizes the township to seek bids from national firms to help the township appeal FEMA's advisory base flood elevation maps.

He will be supported in his effort by Councilman Joseph Sangiovanni. Councilman John Ducey has also indicated he will support the measure, according to a local grassroots group that has pushed for the township to hire such a firm.

"We feel very strongly that right now, there are thousands of homes that are in zones they shouldn't be in," said Sangiovanni, in a statement. "FEMA has said they did not take into account physical structures when they developed the ABFEs. Their failure to do so has put the financial future of thousands of families, as well as our community, in danger."

The resolution will be presented to the full council at Tuesday night's meeting, the statement said.

The group Save Our Communities 2013 posted an e-mail chain conversation on its Facebook page that indicated the council's Business and Finance committee would take up the issue at its meeting prior to the meeting of the full governing body. Support was indicated for the plan by councilmen Dan Toth and Jim Fozman.

Hiring a national firm to help oppose the maps could result in a case being made to remove certain homes from flood zones or scale back 'V,' or velocity zones to 'A' zones, which would mean residents could elevate homes on blocks rather than costlier piling foundations.

The contract would likely include hydrological mapping as well as scientific calculations of flood risk.