Redrawn Flood Zone in Simi Valley Omits More Than 900 Homes : Coverage: The action enables homeowners to drop costly flood insurance. Some commercial and industrial buildings are also left out.

For the third time in less than two years, federal officials are shrinking Simi Valley’s flood zone, enabling more than 900 homeowners to drop costly flood insurance and get refunds for last year’s coverage.

In the third phase of a five-part plan to revise the city’s flood plain, officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have cut a large portion of the designated flood zone in western Simi Valley.

The area stretches roughly from Madera Road to Erringer Road and from Los Angeles Avenue to the Simi Valley Freeway. Residents living in or near the area are encouraged to call City Hall to verify their status.

Residents financing or refinancing property in flood zones are required by federal law to purchase flood insurance, which can cost $600 a year or more.

Homeowners who have been removed from the flood zone are eligible for refunds on their 1993 and 1994 policies.

While 915 homeowners will no longer need flood coverage, federal officials have decided to add 176 residences to the flood zone. Those homeowners may be required to buy flood insurance if they need a loan to finance or refinance their home.

Also, 74 commercial and industrial buildings are being removed from the flood zone and 82 are being added. Most businesses are not required to carry flood insurance, even if they are situated within a flood plain.

“We are getting a few new areas added and we really didn’t expect that,” Mayor Greg Stratton said. “But overall we’ve seen major reductions, so we’re definitely going in the right direction.”

In the first and second phases of the study, 2,200 residences on the city’s east end and central area were taken out of the flood zone.

About 3,300 residences and businesses remain in the flood zone. City officials have been pressuring FEMA to finish the reassessment, which should be completed by the end of the year, Stratton said.

Stratton said he hopes to get the number of housing units in the flood zone reduced to about 2,000.

Federal agents began reworking the city’s flood-zone map after city leaders complained that the zones were based on faulty information by FEMA engineers.

“We have worked with FEMA and pushed on them and the result is tremendous benefit for the community,” Councilwoman Judy Mikels said. “I think it was really the personal contact of city leaders with FEMA that made this happen.”

Robert C. Avery, chief executive officer of Western Flood, a Thousand Oaks-based flood-rating service that provides information to real estate agents and homeowners, said the new maps give a more accurate account of Simi Valley’s flood zones.

“Obviously when the rains come down and the floods come up, they don’t take into account the flood lines on the map,” Avery said. “But you can make some very accurate assumptions.”

FYI

To find out whether your home or business has been added to, or removed from, the flood zone, call Simi Valley City Hall at 583-6769.