By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

If your property is not in a flood plain zone now, it may be soon.

Kennebunkport Code Enforcement Officer Brian Shaw said new preliminary flood plain maps for York County from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) show some homes near the flood plain on current maps may be considered within the zone on new maps. 

Joe Young, Maine Floodplain Management mapping coordinator, said the process of creating new maps started around fiscal year 2003-2004 with state funding to replace some maps that dated to 1975.  He said coastal sections of towns in York and Cumberland counties were restudied with new engineering predicting the effects of a 100-year storm, which resulted in higher flood bases. This base varies along the coastline depending on elevation and whether the shore is sandy, rocky or a cliff, Young said. 

If the maps are not appealed, Young said FEMA will finalize them around the first of the year and local governments will adopt the maps by the end of June 2010. Once the maps are accepted, properties in the flood plain zones are prohibited from additional construction. 

“Anything in coastal flood plain zones is considered to be a resource and a protected zone that is mandated by the state,” Shaw said. “I encourage anyone who may be affected by the new maps to come and see how they will be affected.”

The greatest impact in Kennebunkport is in the Goose Rocks Beach area because the elevation is nearly flat and the majority of the area will be considered a flood plain zone, Shaw said. New maps indicate that some areas that were never threatened before could face the possibility of flooding one to three feet, he said. 

Kennebunk Code Enforcement Officer Paul Demers said the maps reflected what the town expected  for 100-year storm and 500-year storms.

He said homes flooded on Intervale Road in 2006 and again in 2007 will be considered within the flood plain on new maps. 

Demers said he has yet to study the maps concerning beachfront properties. What he has reviewed, he said, does address the storms on Mother’s Day and Patriots Day in 2007. 

After the maps are finalized by FEMA, he said the maps will be reviewed and public hearings will be held for residential input. 

Staff writer Emma Bouthillette can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 237.