Tucson (and Marana) and the Floodplain
August 11, 2008
I was asked a question the other day about a home out in the far Northwest portion of Tucson - technically, it was in Marana.
The first thing I do when looking at homes online in that part of town is scroll down to the Flood Insurance Required field and check that out. There’s a good portion of the far Northwest that is in the floodplain. I ran some numbers today, and about 1/3rd of the homes ever listed in MLS in the far Northwest are described as in the floodplain.
Not all is terrible, however. Some have been built up and have elevation certificates so you don’t have to pay flood insurance. And if you’re wanting a rural setting, it’s certainly an area to consider.
Back in last September, FEMA changed a bunch of the floodplain maps and Marana was pretty hard hit. Marana is disputing the new maps, and the Marana Floodplain website says that they are ‘on track to make (study information) submittal in late May or early June 2008,’ which would have been a couple months ago, although I don’t find any updates on the Marana site as to whether that happened or not. The deadline isn’t until October.
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Hey Kelley,
I spoke with Gus Lipins from the town of Marana the other day, a project Manager of some sort, to find out if there was any resolution on the FEMA issue yet, and here’s what he told me.. or.. didn’t tell me.
He said that FEMA has been heavily involved during the past year while the town of Marana performed their study and that FEMA is now reviewing the town of Marana’s preliminary report to ensure it agrees with it’s findings.
Gus couldn’t officially tell me anything but he said they “expect” everything west of I-10 in Marana to not be in the floodplain when the final maps are issued. Apparently there was also a town meeting a few months ago (which I missed) where they collected email addresses to send updates to residents and a few residents I have spoken to have reiterating email stating the above.
Obviously this is great news for the Marana community but the downside is that the developments east of I-10 (including San Lucas) appear to be placed in a floodplain.. so residents there will be ponying up for flood insurance.
Hopefully we’ll hear for sure either way, every time I see a home sell in Gladden Farms or Rancho Marana I cringe because I’m not sure if the homeowner was aware of these immense floodplain issues that are in contention.
Hi Michael, thanks for pitching in! I was overdue for a call to Marana, but I hadn’t been out that way in a while.
I always wonder about those Gladden Farms/Rancho Marana type sales too - I would hope the flood issue is settled shortly, and that home prices will stop sliding in those regions because of it. Gladden has potential to be a really nice development once it gets going again.