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<br />Urban redevelopment and <br />preservation in flood-prone <br />areas offer opportunities to <br />rectify many of the devel- <br />opment pr{1(;tices that con- <br />tributed to flood damage <br />in the past. SudJ projects <br />can use site design and <br />floodproofing strategies to <br />lessen the imp{1(;t of flooding. <br /> <br /> <br />Ikpanmenl of Housing and Urban Development <br /> <br /> <br />, <br />Department of Housing and Urban Development <br /> <br />26 <br /> <br />~~< <br /> <br /> <br />Acquisition and Relocation <br />In many flood-prone areas existing development suffers <br />repeated damage. Often such locations can be protected <br />only by removing development, hut this can rarely be ac- <br />complLshed without puhlic ownership of the land. Public <br />ownership is, likewise, the surest way to protect vacant <br />land that is suhject to development pressure. <br />A growing number of puhlic bodies recognize the <br />desirability of hoth acquiring such hazardous sites, either <br />through negotiation or eminent domain, and relocating <br />existing uses to safer sites. This strategy mitigates recur- <br />ring losses, helps to restore natural processes in the <br />floodplain, and promotes open space uses such as agricul- <br />ture or recreation <br />Federal authority to implement such policies exists <br />in several forms. Section 1362 of the National Flood Insur- <br />ance Act allows the Federal Emergency Management <br />Agency (FEMA)to acquire certain flood-prone sites.To qual- <br />ify; properties must meet several criterIa-they must be in- <br />sured, they must he substantially damaged or repeatedly <br />flooded, and the relevant local government must be will- <br />ing to take the property under its control. Implementa- <br />tion of Section 1362 has been slow, partly because ofthe <br />constraints described above and partly because of a lack <br />of funding. Fiscal year 1980 was the first time that funds <br />were available specifically for Section 1362 acquisitions, <br />with over $5 million used for that purpose in that year. <br />Earlier acquisition and relocation projects have been <br />carried out using a variety of other funding sources. A <br />project to relocate the business district of Soldier's Grove, <br />Wisconsin, out of a riverine floodway has been initiated <br />using discretionary funds available to the Departments of <br />Interior and Housing and Urban Development and a <br />gmnt from the Economic Development Administration <br />Section 73 of the 1974 Water Resources Development Act <br />(I'L 93-251) provides for acquisition and relocation, and <br />