3 Homes May Get Stilts Exemption : Simi Valley: FEMA promises to waive elevation requirement. Quake-damaged residences are in flood plain.

Three Simi Valley residents who poured huge sums into fixing their quake-damaged homes may be exempted from a federal law requiring them to scrap all repairs and rebuild their houses on stilts, city officials said.

Simi Valley officials have secured a promise from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to waive the law, which is designed to prevent housing from being built in flood plains.

“We believe we have reached a tentative agreement that will let these homeowners continue to move forward with building their homes,” Assistant City Manager Mike Sedell said.

FEMA officials cautioned that the deal still must be approved by top federal managers before the agency can grant waivers and allow repairs to proceed. The approval process could take several weeks.

“I understand the city being optimistic. But I’ve been through this a few times and it’s unwise to speculate on something that’s not yet a settled solution,” said Jack Eldridge, chief of the national flood insurance program for FEMA’s western district.

The controversy stems from a federal law requiring landowners to elevate any structure built in a flood plain. The law applies to both new construction and existing structures that undergo massive refurbishment.

Thus, the three Simi Valley residents who undertook extensive repairs--in each case costing more than half their homes’ value--should have propped their houses up on stilts or earthen mounds five feet high, Eldridge said.

But Simi Valley officials did not realize that the residents’ quake repairs were considered substantial enough to trigger the elevation requirement. So they did not warn residents in the flood plain to lift their houses.

By the time Simi Valley officials realized their mistake, the homeowners had already invested more than $50,000 apiece on repairs.

Infuriated at the prospect of ripping up that work, the residents protested. Simi Valley leaders lobbied FEMA to exempt the three homeowners from the law.

“These guys (at FEMA) were all nice and warm and fuzzy after the earthquake,” Mayor Greg Stratton said. “They said, ‘We’re here to help.’ And so we said, ‘OK, help!’ ”

Stratton and Sedell said they believe their pleas will pay off, adding that they received assurances from top officials in Washington. But they warned that the deal must still be sealed in writing.

And the tenuous nature of the agreement made homeowner Louise Kisting skeptical.

“Well, it sounds like good news, but I’ve been told many conflicting things,” said Kisting, who had spent $90,000 to repair her two-story wood-frame house in east Simi Valley before she was caught in bureaucratic red tape.

“I’m not going to believe it until I see it in black and white, signed by FEMA,” she added.

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Kisting’s home, like the other two, is included in a flood zone primarily because it is close to the Arroyo Simi, a flood-control channel that runs the length of the city.

According to FEMA engineers, there is a 1% or greater chance that these residences will flood in any given year.

By building without elevating, the three homeowners may be forced to pay several thousand dollars a year in flood insurance. The city is considering sharing that cost, Stratton said, because officials should have known that the extensive reconstruction would force elevation of the residences.

“I think we probably owe them,” Stratton said. “I’m not sure whose fault it is. But if they shouldn’t pay and FEMA won’t pay, then we have a moral obligation of some type.”