BROOKINGS — An ordinance amending the floodplain overlay district in Brookings County was OK’d on a 5-0 vote at Tuesday’s county commission meeting, but not before a discussion about how the changes will affect certain landowners in the county.

Basically, those  property owners are now back in the floodplain after being taken out of it. The practical effect is they’ll have to get a flood insurance policy if they have a federally backed mortgage on their home or a business. The designation could also affect the ability to sell a property.

While the overall impact of the changes could be called minimal — with only 11 property owners affected, according to Brookings County Emergency Management Director Bob Hill — that doesn’t necessarily ring true for the five or six of them whose properties are once again in the floodplain.

If there’s a silver lining, maybe it’s this: “This allows our citizens in Brookings County to, if they do have to buy flood insurance — by us participating in the National Flood Insurance Program, it allows Brookings County citizens to get a discount on their flood insurance when they do require it,” Hill said.

He said the affected property owners have been notified via letter. He added that the county has also helped to facilitate contact between some of those individuals and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was responsible for updating the flood insurance rate map.

Deputy Director Richard Haugen said the last floodplain map update was in 2008. “This is bringing that up 15-plus years with new data and information,” he said.

Hill added, “It is what it is, unfortunately. If we do not adopt these changes, then the flood rate insurance throughout the whole county would increase.”

He explained to commissioners that FEMA used  LIDAR — side imaging radar — to get accurate and detailed readings on elevations in Brookings County. The original data was based on Big Sioux River flooding that occurred in 1969. Over the intervening years there were occasional spot elevation updates to that data, but FEMA recently conducted an overall and more accurate review.

“They determined that some of the properties are just sitting a little too low and they are flood-prone,” Hill said.

Commissioner Doug Post wondered if Hill had received feedback from the affected property owners. “Have you heard back from any of them (that) they’re aware of this?”

“Oh, by all means,” Hill said, noting that he has referred some of them to FEMA for appeal purposes, since it has the ability to change a property’s designation.

“If they want to dispute that, their only avenue is to go right FEMA?” Commissioner Dave Miller asked.

“Yes.”

“There’s nothing that’s done on the county level?”

“No.”

Hill explained that a certified engineer is required when it comes dealing with the floodplain management program, and since the county doesn’t have such a person on staff, there isn’t a whole lot it can do to assist property owners.

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners:

• With the weather being so dry, red flag conditions came up briefly as well. Hill said if such a warning presents itself, the public will be made aware via the county’s messaging system and social media, such as Facebook.

“Yes, just to remind the public to be smart in these times when we’re lacking moisture,” Commissioner Kelly VanderWal said.

• Heard a 4-H report from Sonia Mack, SDSU 4-H Extension youth program adviser. Among other things, she discussed a December cooking program and a January brunch that kids took part in, and also reported that participation in shooting sports is going well, in particular with the BB gun (61 students) and archery (93 students) disciplines.

• Heard the results from a 2023 audit review from Jeff Schaefer. More or less, everything is looking fine when it comes to the county’s bookkeeping.

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.