From floodplain to family park?

As more lots in Colmans Sunrise Ridge Estates Second Addition are purchased, developers with the Colman Community Group are working to reclassify a section of the land currently designated as a floodplain.
The area in question lies at the southern end of the development, just south of Fairway Drive. Despite not being near any waterways, the land has long been considered part of a floodplain. City officials and engineers say the area functions more like a temporary reservoir during heavy rains than a formal waterway.
Developers Dean Gulbranson and Jim Clark recently met with engineers to confirm theyre doing everything possible to raise the elevation around the reservoir. Their goal to prevent water issues for future homeowners and to eliminate the requirement for flood insurance by removing the floodplain designation.
The effort comes with a significant price tag, an estimated $50,000, to raise each adjacent lot to a safe elevation. That cost will be shared between the developers and future buyers.
But they also hope to turn the area into a community asset. Since water has only ever pooled minimally, the developers envision a landscaped water feature with a fountain, walking and biking paths, and a small park.
Right here is a slough where we hope to put a water feature, it would be really nice to have a sidewalk all the way around here and have families come in, a little park thing right here, thats what these guys are working on to get this out of the flood plain, said local realtor and Colman economic development board member Lori Hansen.
Hansen told the City Council that two lots were sold in the past week, and a third offer had just come in.
During a late April council meeting, Gulbranson and Clark shared their challenges with developing the land and their intent to appeal to FEMA for a floodplain map revision. While theyve already raised the ground level of multiple lots some with walkout basements that have never experienced flooding the federal process for map changes could take up to a year.
Shane Waterman of IMEG explained the technicalities involved, calling it a LOMR-F (Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill). It requires submitting detailed engineering documentation to FEMA proving that the lots have been elevated above flood levels.
What youve done is pushed the high-water mark back off of that lot and now youve just got to prove to them what you did, Waterman said.
He also noted that while Zone A floodplains arent arbitrarily designated, they can be ambiguous especially in areas like this one, which function as catchment basins during heavy rain rather than flowing bodies of water.
Despite bureaucratic hurdles, the development is gaining momentum. Lots are selling quickly, the roads are completed, and plans for the neighborhoods central water feature are moving ahead. The lots remain affordably pricedmost at $35,000, with corner lots slightly higher, and a few premium lots near the future water feature priced around $50,000.
We didnt realize it would be this hard, Gulbranson noted during the meeting. But the group remains committed, hoping their work will help attract new families and meet the increasing housing demand in Colman.