September 1 and 2 Bennington County - Flood Insurance Meetings

The Bennington County maps showing high risk flood hazard areas will officially change on December 2. Two open house events are scheduled for people that want to learn more about flood risk, flood insurance and the effect of the map update.  

Is your house or business in a hazard area?   This is a particularly important question for buildings that are identified as at a high risk on the December map but not at high risk on the older map.

FEMA Flood Information Open House Events are scheduled for:

• Tuesday September 1, 4-6:30 pm Manchester at the Spiral Press Café, 15 Bonnet Street, and
• Wednesday September 2, 4 -7 pm Bennington at the Bennington Free Library, 101 Silver Street

At these events Bennington county residents can meet one-on-one with Federal and State officials to identify if their building is in a Special Flood Hazard Area.   FEMA insurance specialists will be on hand to discuss flood insurance requirements and opportunities to make your building safer and less costly to insure.

Getting insurance now, before the map change to “grandfather the old zone” may be an important opportunity in situations where the older maps show a building to be outside the Special Flood Hazard Area and the new map shows it in.

The new December 2015 flood maps can be viewed on the Flood Ready Atlas: tinyurl.com/floodreadyatlas .   Use Flood Ready Tools to “Find Address” and “Toggle Flood Data On”.  

The older maps can be viewed on FEMA’s Map Service Center www.msc.fema.gov .

These open house events for flood resiliency are provided to help residents understand flood risks as shown on the new Bennington County Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map and to take steps to reduce the risk of flood damage to families, buildings and communities.

Live in Bennington County? Check the New Flood Map! (6/9/15)

9/24 Demystifying Floodplain Maps: Real Estate Course

Demystifying FEMA and Floodplain Maps and Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal Program
 4 Continuing Education Credits, $75, Rutland

Demystifying FEMA and Floodplain Maps
Learn about the ins and outs of flood hazard and river corridor maps with Ned Swanberg from the VT Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Rivers Program. Ned will demonstrate how to access and interpret map data, understand NFIP insurance requirements, municipal and state regulations, flood mitigation opportunities for buildings and strategies to help communities reduce losses from flooding and channel erosion.

Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal Program
In order to encourage the use of land for agricultural production or forest management, the state of Vermont adopted policy that allows farmers and foresters to enroll their land in the Current Use program in 1978. The land is then taxed at the use value rather than the fair market value – so the land is appraised at what it is used for, rather than what it could be sold for at the highest market value. Now about 1/3 of Vermont’s total land area is enrolled in Current Use. Because the program helps many of Vermont’s farms stay in business and resist the financial lure of selling land into development, Rural Vermont has defended and helped strengthen Current Use throughout its existence. This course will provide Real Estate professionals with the information they need to share options regarding land with current use eligibility as well as the responsibilities, potential penalties, and the many benefits of Current Use enrollment to property buyers and sellers.

• When: Thursday, September 24, 2015
• Time: 8:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
• Where: College of St. Joseph at 71 Clement Road, Rutland, VT (St. Joseph Hall Room 105) 

The Rutland Natural Resources Conservation District and Lake Champlain Sea Grant Program are offering 4 credits of Continuing Education approved by the VT Real Estate Commission - Demystifying FEMA and Floodplain Maps and (2 hours) and Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal Program (2 hours).

Fee is $75.00 per person. Fee includes coffee, bagels, pastries, juice and credits
*Note: Courses with fewer than 10 pre-registered attendees may be postponed or cancelled

For more information, contact Nanci McGuire at 802-775-8034 x.117 or nanci.mcguire@vt.nacdnet.net

Registration Form

Demystifying FEMA and Floodplain Maps and Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal Program
Continuing Education Course June 5, 2015 at College of St. Joseph (St. Joseph Hall Room 105) 71 Clement Rd., Rutland, VT

Pre-registration required by September 11, 2015. Payment is required at time of registration.

If more than one person is attending from the same office, please register separately

Name:

Address:

Agency/Business:

Phone:  

E-mail:


Amount Enclosed: ($75.00 per person)



PLEASE make checks payable to RNRCD and mail checks and registration to RNRCD, 170 South Main St., Suite 4, Rutland, VT 05701.