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<br />Costs <br />Costs of acquisition in fee or easement depend upon the cost per acre and number of acres <br />needed. Both items are highly variable and must be determined on a case by case basis, Per unit <br />costs can vary considerably within a community, between communities, and regionally. The <br />number of acres needed depends upon the plan - it may require a few acres or thousands of <br />acres. Administrative costs - costs to acquire land - are generally small compared with the <br />cost of the land or easement itself. <br /> <br />Economic Feasibility <br />Acquisition, either by fee or easement, reduces damage by controlling future use. With <br />acquisition there will, hopefully, be less damageable property exposed to the flood hazard than <br />without. The difference in damage with and without will measure the damage reduced. The <br />accuracy of this measurement is tied to the accuracy of estimating future land use for both <br />conditions. This can best be done for specific flood plains. No attempt was made in this study to <br />estimate damage reduced on a generai basis. <br /> <br />Advantages and Disadvantages <br />Several advantages and disadvantages of acquisition are summarized in Table 12-1. <br /> <br />TABLE 12-1 <br /> <br />ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES <br />OF THE USE OF PUBLIC ACQUISITION OF FLOOD PLAIN LAND <br />TO REDUCE FLOOD DAMAGE <br /> <br />Advantages <br /> <br />Provides control of land and its use with fee <br />title. <br /> <br />Provides control of certain land uses with an <br />easement, but without the burden of fee <br />title. <br /> <br />Disadvantages <br /> <br />Does not reduce existing damage. <br /> <br />Requires land management and mainte- <br />nance by the public owner. <br /> <br />References <br />1. Mack, Ruth, "Evaluation of and Recommendations for Legal, Institutional and Financial <br />Methods for Implementing Purposes and Plans for Flood Plain Management in the Connecticut <br />River Basin", Institute of Public Administration, New York, March 1976, (NTIS PB-253 122). <br /> <br />2. U.S. Army Engineers, "Charles River, Massachusetts, Main Report and Attachments", New <br />England Division, Waltham, Mass., May 1972. <br />3. Bauer Engineering, "Living with a River in Suburbia", A Report to the Forest Preserve <br />District of DuPage County, Chicago, Illinois, 1976. <br /> <br />91 <br />