Flood Smart Action Plan Cohocton River Acknowledgements THIS REPORT WAS PREPARED BY Flood Smart Communities is a complex, interdisciplinary, and Stevie Adams (TNC) information intensive project that the Core Team could not have done Janet Thigpen (STC) without the help, expertise and talents of so many. The authors wish Dr. Kathryn Bryk Friedman (UB) to thank the following people whose thoughtful contributions of content, reviews, comments and other support helped to shape and WITH CONTENT CONTRIBUTED BY inform this document. Special thanks go to the nine participating Towns Stephanie Yezzi (STC) and Villages for supporting the project and providing their extremely Brian Conley (UBRI) experienced officials and staff: Alison Agresta (TNC) David Richardson (TNC) Town of Avoca: Ken Parsels, Supervisor; LeAnn Wightman, Matthew Sousa (Steuben County Planning) Village Clerk; Chuck Cagle, Code Enforcement Officer Town of Bath: Ron Smith, Supervisor; Ron Dyer, Code IN COLLABORATION WITH Enforcement Officer; John Lysyczyn, Council Person Steuben County Emergency Services, the Towns of Avoca, Bath, Campbell, Cohocton, and Erwin, the Villages of Avoca, Town of Campbell: Terry Brethen, Planning Board Chair; Cohocton, Painted Post and Savona, Steuben County Marvin Rethmel, Code Enforcement Officer Soil and Water Conservation District, Steuben County Planning Department Town of Cohocton: Cheryl Deusenbery, Deputy Supervisor; Chuck Cagle, Code Enforcement Officer; Ray Schrader, Planning Board Chair FUNDING FOR THIS PROJECT WAS PROVIDED BY THE Town of Erwin: Rita McCarthy, Town Manager; Bryan Hallgren, Environmental Protection Fund through the New York State Code Enforcement Officer Department of Environmental Conservation with assistance Peter Gledhill, Mayor; LeAnn Wightman, from New York State Senator Thomas F. O’Mara, the Land Village of Avoca: Village Clerk; Chuck Cagle, Zoning Officer Trust Alliance, the Corning Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Elmira-Corning and the Finger Lakes Village of Cohocton: Tom Cox, Mayor; Justin Coats, Public Works; Chuck Cagle, Code Enforcement Officer SUGGESTED CITATION Adams, S.L., J. Thigpen, and K. Bryk Friedman. 2019. Village of Painted Post: Larry Smith, Superintendent of Flood Smart Action Plan: Cohocton River. Bath, NY. Public Works Village of Savona: Brian Scott, Mayor; Ken DeWert, Code Enforcement Officer With gratitude to Jeff Parker, Velynda Parker and Chelsea Barnett (SWCD) for their review of modeling outputs, field work and invaluable expertise; to Chelsea Robertson (STC) and Amy Dlugos (Steuben County Planning) for their support, guidance and advice; and to Kristin France (TNC) and Ellen Weiss (TNC) for their editing and help with organization of information for this plan. Published September 2019 COVER PHOTO Town of Bath © The Nature Conservancy 2 FLOOD SMART ACTION PLAN I COHOCTON RIVER Acronyms ACOE Army Corps of Engineers CRS Community Rating System FDPL Flood Damage Prevention Law FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency Contents FIRM Flood Insurance Rate Map Chapter 1: Introduction 4 G/FLRPC Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional The Flood Smart Approach 6 Planning Council Goals, Objectives and Actions 11 LFDPL Local Flood Damage Prevention Law Chapter 2: Community Profiles 16 NFIP National Flood Insurance Program Cohocton Watershed 17 Town of Avoca 34 NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Town of Bath 54 Town of Campbell 77 NWI National Wetlands Inventory Town of Cohocton 97 NYS DEC NYS Department of Town of Erwin 117 Environmental Conservation Village of Avoca 136 STC Southern Tier Central Regional Village of Cohocton 155 Planning and Development Council Village of Painted Post 175 SWCD Soil & Water Conservation District Village of Savona 194 SFHA Special Flood Hazard Area Chapter 3: Toolkit 213 Emergency Response 214 TNC The Nature Conservancy Property Damage 219 UB University of Buffalo Planning 223 UBRI University of Buffalo, Regional Institute Education 228 Natural Systems 231 USDA US Department of Agriculture Appendix 237 USEPA US Environmental Protection Agency Appendix A: Vulnerability Assessment 237 USFWS US Fish and Wildlife Service Appendix B: Local Land Use Assessment 248 Appendix C: Natural Environment Assessment 440 Appendix D: Community Resilience Building 487 Workshop Synthesis Appendix E: Policy Gap Analysis 493 Appendix F: Floodplain Function Assessment 508 Appendix G: Stream Management 526 Dialogue Synthesis Flash flooding in the Town of Cohocton Photo courtesy of Steuben County Office of Emergency Services. 3 FLOOD SMART ACTION PLAN I COHOCTON RIVER 3 CHAPTER ONE Introduction Town4 of FLOOD Cohocton SMART© The Nature ACTION Conservancy PLAN I COHOCTON RIVER Flooding on Liberty Street, Bath, 1935. Photo courtesy of the Steuben County Historical Society. Flooding is an unfortunate reality for New York State communities situated in the Cohocton River Watershed. In the latter half of the 20th century, no less than 35 flooding events occurred in the region. The most significant of these was the “Great Flood of 1972” caused by Hurricane Agnes, which, by all accounts, resulted in “complete chaos.” Water rolled over dikes and flood walls; retaining walls were hurled out of the way; bridges were lost; trailers floated down the rivers; and buildings disappeared. Approximately two percent of the entire land area in the region was under water; 30 feet of water covered the Village of Painted Post. Twenty-three fatalities and billions of dollars in damage occurred in Steuben County. As devastating as this flood was, it is sobering to consider that the Cohocton River level measured at the Campbell gauge was even higher during the “Finger Lakes Flood” in 1935. Extensive damage from that flood spurred construction of levees protecting the Villages of Avoca, Bath, and Painted Post. Hurricane Agnes flooding, Bath, 1972. Photo courtesy of Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board. 5 FLOOD SMART ACTION PLAN I COHOCTON RIVER 5 Flooding continues to pose challenges for development along the Cohocton River and in tributary valleys. Micro-storms that cause flash flooding occur more frequently than in years past. Agricultural practices, deforestation, and development alter upland runoff patterns, while sediment, debris, and stream bank erosion alter stream and river conditions. In addition, the current policy environment provides little support to help rural inland communities strengthen their local capacity to address flooding challenges. Although flash floods are common, most instances of flooding in the Cohocton River are “undeclared emergencies” – meaning that flooding events are not large enough to warrant a Presidential emergency declaration that then triggers a flow of funding under the Federal Emergency Management Act. For all these reasons, now is the time for Cohocton River communities to be Flood Smart in addressing flood concerns and challenges. The Flood Smart Approach Flood Smart Communities is an innovative program that works with communities across New York State to proactively strategize about flooding concerns. It is based upon the premise that collaboration among different sectors (public officials, non-government organizations, academics, state agencies) is necessary to address flooding challenges. Developed by The Nature Project partners at the Community Conservancy, Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board, Resilience Building Workshop, 2017. University at Buffalo, and Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council, © The Nature Conservancy Flood Smart is not a “one size fits all” approach. Rather, it recognizes that each community has different strengths, needs and challenges. Two critical elements underlying the Flood Smart program are 1) the employment of an Participating evidence-based and collaborative approach to understanding communities, Communities and 2) the engagement and empowerment of local officials because they know the needs of their community best. • Town of Avoca • Town of Bath In 2016, nine communities situated along the Cohocton River committed to • Town of Campbell working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Southern Tier Central Regional • Town of Cohocton Planning and Development Board (STC), the Steuben County Planning • Town of Erwin • Village of Avoca Department, the Steuben County Office of Emergency Services, and the • Village of Cohocton University at Buffalo (UB) (the “Core Project Team”) to develop a Flood Smart • Village of Painted Post approach to flooding in this region. • Village of Savona 6 FLOOD SMART ACTION PLAN I COHOCTON RIVER The Flood Smart and safe communities and strive for solutions that Approach: Strengthen provide multiple benefits. Understanding Toward these ends, the Core Project Team focused on an evidence-based approach to understanding of Participating the participating communities. Members of the Core Communities Project Team conducted interviews with municipal Over a two-year period, the Core Project Team worked officials to gain a better understanding of strengths, with the participating communities to develop a barriers and challenges of flood management; Flood Smart approach for the Cohocton River. The conducted a vulnerability assessment (Appendix overarching goal of this approach was to reduce A); an assessment of land use plans and regulations flooding vulnerability within the Cohocton River (Appendix B); an assessment of stream flow and municipalities with coordinated and collaborative natural infrastructure (Appendix C); synthesized flood risk