New Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps have been completed and are in the process of being shown to elected officials and also members of the public to facilitate their approval by local municipalities. The maps are being upgraded with information from past storms and by using elevation maps have fine tuned flood zones and will affect some flood insurance needs.

An Oyster Bay spokesperson said that Firemen's Field is in the newly classified 100-year flood plain. It had been classified as being in the 500-year flood plain. The previous designation allowed a building to be constructed at Firemen's Field using the town's normal building standards. The new classification means that a building erected in Firemen's Field has to conform to federal flood standards for building on a Flood Plain.

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park has also been put into the 100-year flood plain. The town had a small glitch in finding the maps sent to them by FEMA. Not until Friday, July 11 did they find their way to the correct location, the Department of Planning and Development. They need more time to look at the maps before they can answer other questions for the press, including how far up the new designation goes into the hamlet.

The information on the maps is still getting out. Village of Bayville Mayor Victoria Siegel said, "The Town of Oyster Bay officials will meet with FEMA and the NY DEC on Monday July 21 at 2:30 p.m. at the Oyster Bay Community Center. They will also meet with them on Tuesday, July 22 at 10:30 a.m. The meetings are sponsored by FEMA for the purpose of letting officials know and to get our feedback.

"The NYS DEC said the meetings are to discuss the preliminary flood insurance study that has been prepared for communities for the flood mapping project. These are working meetings rather then public meetings and will focus on technical data and legal requirements for map adoption. The public are not invited to those meetings, but there will be an opportunity for the public to hear the information," she said.

The public will be invited to three open houses, because of the high interest in the issue.

There will be one held for the public for the Town of Oyster Bay in the Cantiague Elementary School cafeteria, in Jericho, at 678 Cantiague Rock Road on Tuesday, July 22, from 4 to 9 p.m. [FYI: There will be one held for the Village of North Hempstead at the TR Legislative Building in Mineola, on Wednesday, July 23, from 4 to 9 p.m. The Town of Hempstead meeting will be held in the Nassau Community College center multi-purpose room at 1 Education Drive, Garden City, on July 24, from 4 to 9 p.m.]

As an example of what the new maps mean, Mayor Siegel's home is now out of the flood zone. She explained, "Where I live we are out of flood. The back of the house is off West Harbor Drive and the house and West Harbor Drive is on Oyster Bay harbor. We are within 50 feet of the water, but it is the elevation that saves us," she said.

She said she hasn't really looked at the maps in detail, "Since I knew the meeting was coming up."

Mayor Seigel said, "For myself, we intend on still keeping our flood insurance. The storms we have been witnessing in the last 20 years or so are very different and unusual. Even though we are high and dry, those few extra dollars will give me peace of mind. And because we are out of the flood zone, we are not considered a risk and will not pay as much as now."

Mayor Siegel said, "The new designations will really affect the market value of our homes, regardless of where you live by the water and everyone wants to be there so they have to go along with the risks and the additional expenses."

The Village of Bayville was hit hard by the Nor'easter of 1992, especially the low lying areas. After that storm people rebuilt and upgraded their homes, and updated and improved the area. "People said okay, we are going to rebuild and make things better," she said.

Barbara Lynch, FEMA spokesperson said, "Interestingly, on the North Shore, there have been changes, and 892 sites have been removed from the special flood hazard area, a 97 percent decrease."

She said, "In the Village of Bayville, there are 160 reductions which is a 10 percent decrease, in the special flood hazard area.

Ms. Lynch said, "James Goolsby, the building inspector for the Village of Bayville said, 'Thank God we re-did the maps. They were old and not realistic. They were not consistent with what happened with Hurricane Gloria, which was a high water mark for the village.'"

Ms. Lynch said the maps have not been adopted as yet. "We don't adopt them. They have to be adopted by the community. As a member of the National Flood Program, each community has to adopt the map."

Being in a flood zone, she explained, means that when someone builds, they have to use certain specifications on being in a flood zone.

Ms. Lynch said, "In Oyster Bay Cove, 10 structures are being removed from the flood plain. That is 77 percent removed from the flood plain." It should be noted that Oyster Bay Cove is a small village with only four streets. It is also situated on high ground.

Ms. Lynch said, "The decisions are made according to the elevation of the land... although there are people who elevate their structures and in New York State, a two foot freeboard: 2 ft. above baseline is allowed. The designations indicate the projected level the water will rise in a hundred year flood, or 1 percent of happening in any given year."

Maps, she said, are sent to the municipality's building inspector office. "They need to know if a building is in a flood zone."

Ms. Lynch also said there will be meetings for the public, held by FEMA in Jericho; Mineola in the TR Legislative chamber; and a third one at Nassau Community College in Garden City.