Lynch, Koch to host flood-map forum in Quincy

QUINCY – U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, and Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch will host a forum Thursday at Central Middle School to discuss controversial flood-map changes that could impact thousands of city residents.

The forum is open to the public and will start at 7 p.m. in the school's auditorium. The new Central Middle School is at the corner of St. Ann's Road and Hancock Street in Wollaston.

Woodard & Curran, an engineering firm hired by the city, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency's redrawn flood maps, effective June 9 of this year, will add 1,370 Quincy properties to the National Flood Insurance Program. All homeowners who have mortgages must buy flood insurance.

Also, the new maps, coupled with a federal law called the Biggert-Waters Act, is set to raise insurance premiums for thousands of homes already in the flood plain.

Earlier this week, Joseph Shea, senior vice president at Woodard & Curran, said properties in the Montclair, Merrymount, North Quincy and Houghs Neck neighborhoods are among those to be added to the flood plain. The affected streets, he said, are: West Squantum Street, Wilson Avenue, Belmont Street, Safford Street, Vassall Street, Cummings Avenue, Squanto Road, Victoria Road, Assabet Road, Virginia Road, Peterson Street and Sea Street.

On Friday, Christopher Walker, a spokesman for Koch, couldn't provide more specifics about which properties face higher premium rates. FEMA didn't respond to a reporter's request for this information.

A copy of FEMA's flood maps are available for public viewing at the Department of Public Works' engineering offices at 55 Sea St.

Critics of the new flood maps, including officials in Scituate and Marshfield, which delayed Plymouth County's maps by filing appeals with FEMA, say the maps are based on a faulty methodology and the sharp rate increases could drive residents from their homes. Quincy didn't appeal the maps before Norfolk County's deadline last June.

A group of federal lawmakers are pushing for significant delays of Biggert-Waters, which aims to replenish the National Flood Insurance Program within five years after it was depleted by storms such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

FEMA said a spending bill approved by Congress last month will delay the part of Biggert-Waters that forces premium increases on grandfathered properties until fall of 2015 at the earliest. This is good news for homeowners who currently pay below-market rates for insurance because they bought their policies before past rate increases went into effect.

However, Norfolk County's redrawn maps – which expand the flood plain and redefine risk levels – are still scheduled to go into effect June 9 and other Biggert-Waters changes will roll out as planned, including higher premiums for frequently flooded properties and on second homes.

Michael McDonald, owner of McDonald Insurance in Quincy, said the existing flood-insurance premiums in Quincy are relatively affordable, costing the average mortgage-holder about $1,200 a year.

"It's probably a little higher than what they're paying for auto insurance on a fairly new car," McDonald said.

But Ward 1 City Councilor Margaret Laforest, who represents many of the city's coastal neighborhoods, has said that the redrawn FEMA maps could add as much as $5,000 to a homeowner's yearly premium.

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