Lakewood B-CS071203
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Ken Griffin - Re: Request to meet
From:Ken Griffin
To:Laurie Marshall; Luigi Grosoli
Date:12/3/2007 12:06 PM
Subject:Re: Request to meet
CC:Michael Garza
I have some time to meet Thursday morning 12/6/07 at either 9 a.m. or 10 a.m.
I understand that during your conversation with Mr. Garza that you were informed that fences were not
allowed in the floodplain or floodway. The area at the rear of your property is a floodway. Floodway
encroachments are not allowed without technical data showing the impact on adjacent property. There
are 2 ways that your fence could be allowed: 1) Perform a detailed flood study to show the impact of
the encroachment on property upstream and downstream of the encroachment. Our Floodplain
Management Ordinance 2001-952 requires that the study be based on technical data that shows no
impact. Because the fence is in a floodway, after city requirements have been met, the study would
then need to be submitted to FEMA for their approval. The city charges $4500 for our review. You
would need to check with FEMA to determine their fees, but they are typically higher than our fees.
After your study had been approved by the city and FEMA, then I could issue a
Floodplain Development Permit for the fence; 2) The second option is to appeal my decision to the
Appeal Board (in this case the City Council) and request a variance. Variances are generally based on
"a good and sufficient cause", "exceptional hardship" or "determination that the granting of a variance
will not result in increased flood heights". (These are from the Floodplain Management Ordinance
2001-952 Section D.) Because the fence is in a floodway, the variance could only be issued if there
was no increase in the flood levels. The only way to determine flood levels is through a technical
study.
Option 1 and 2 both require a detailed, technical flood study. The only advantage to option 2, if there
is no increase, is that the study would not need to be submitted to FEMA. This would save time and
money.
Let me know if a Thursday morning meeting works for you.
Ken Griffin, P. E.
Director of Engineering/Public Works
972-304-3686
kgriffin@ci.coppell.tx.us
>>> Luigi Grosoli <lgrosoli@hotmail.com> 12/3/2007 11:24 AM >>>
Kind Mr. Griffin,
my name is Luigi Grosoli and I live at 224 Hollywood Dr. I believe you recently had a conversation
with Mr. Michael Garza in regards to my case, which is about a wrought iron removable fence I had
built in my backyard, extending it into the 100-yr flood zone. As you may recall, this was done on my
side based on an incorrect belief the HOA permit I got from the previous owner when I bought the
house a bit more than 1 year ago was sufficing (obviously, I was wrong).
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I believe the fence I have does not constitute an hazard as it does not change the water flow, in case of
flooding, either upstream or downstream, as it is a wrought iron type one and water simply flows
through it.
In case of severe flooding/catastrophic natural event (as rare as it could be), I also believe it cannot
cause damage downstream to either people or property as it was consciously built removable: the
sections are secured to the poles with 2 screws so that the entire fence could be easily disassembled in
an hour, at the maximum.
If possible at all, I would like to have the opportunity to meet you personally to go over my case, hear
your technical advise, and see if there are the elements to obtain a flood zone construction permit.
Could you kindly let me know if and when this can happen. I would appreciate.
Thank you very much in advance for your time.
Luigi Grosoli
224 Hollywood Dr.
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