CHAPTER V

SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS

The MRBC Master Plan was written in 1995 and, after evaluation of a wide range of alternatives, recommended several components for controlling/mitigating the 1% annual chance flood damages to structures and agricultural lands throughout the basin and to reduce damages caused by future conditions.  Since that time, MRBC and MRBC communities have been working to implement those recommendations.  Well over one hundred flood prone structures have been or are being acquired and demolished, several small scale structural measures have been constructed, several flood prone structures have been retrofitted using MRBC funds, stricter, more uniform floodplain, storm drainage, and erosion control ordinances have been adopted, and various agricultural related opportunities to reduce flood risks have been made available.

This update to the Master Plan was a chance to take all the accomplishments into account, take advantage of technological advances in evaluation methods, and revisit the Master Plan in order to update recommendations.  An inventory of flood prone structures was created based on available data.  This inventory showed that just in Allen County alone (including the City of Fort Wayne and the City of New Haven), there are in excess of approximately 2200 structures identified within the 1% annual chance floodplain and without some sort of flood protection. There are also several more structures located in flood prone areas in the rest of the MRBC area, with the estimated numbers to be determined in the future phases of this Master Plan update. In addition, a large acreage of agricultural land is still affected by flooding along the stream corridors within the Maumee River Basin. 

To address the mitigation or protection of these structures, alternatives in the original Master Plan as well as additional ideas were evaluated and a new set of recommendations made.  Most of the large or small scale structural measures for providing protection have already been completed.  That leaves the continuation of the voluntary acquisition program as the main thrust for reducing flood damage to structures.  A structural inventory was developed and used as part of this Master Plan update to identify a priority class for each structure for voluntary acquisition or appropriate action.  This structure inventory and subsequent categorization can be used by MRBC and communities as a planning tool to prioritize and focus their available mitigation funds.

Other recommendations were related to establishment of MRBC policies and programs to prevent future flood related losses and ways to encourage the implementation of those policies and programs.  To address the prevention of increased flood risks in the future, the model ordinances have been updated and principles to guide future development and maintenance of overflow paths for the St Marys River are recommended.  Stream reaches needing additional study were identified and categorized as to appropriate action in order to properly identify the flood risk throughout the basin.

Funding for these policies, programs, and projects will come from cooperative efforts with other local, state, and federal funding sources. 
Many of the recommendations in the Master Plan Update are already in progress by MRBC and are to be continued or enhanced.  Other recommendations can be carried out immediately while still others depend on funding availability and public or community cooperation or acceptance of particular recommendations.

Selection of recommendations and the plan to implement them was guided by several overriding principles that were established in the process of updating the Master Plan.  Among these principles was the desire to make sure that, as best as possible, no adverse impact would be created by any of the proposed actions, a realization of the benefit of coordinating efforts (between MRBC, local communities, and other available resources) and a desire to provide accurate information about the extent and implications of flooding.

When the 1995 Master Plan was completed, it was realized that a master plan needs to be continually updated to reflect changed circumstances due to additional data, new regulations, funding considerations, new policy directions, and experience gained as the plan is implemented.  Such changed circumstances since the 1995 Master Plan have been reflected in this update and will have to continue to be evaluated as the update is implemented as well.

 

MRBC Master Plan - Summary & Conclusions