Pounder: DFO All Wet On Dike Trees

Pounder (RE: Kiwanis opposes 4 Corners changes ): I’m a big fan DFO, but I think you’re way off on your assessment of the dike road tree removal DFO. No one at the City wanted those trees gone either. It was a requirement by the fed’s (USACE & FEMA) to re-certify the flood protection that the dike and floodwall provide. If the City had not complied, almost everyone on the west side of Northwest Blvd would have been shown within the new 100-year flood limits of FEMA maps and not have been eligible for flood insurance or had massively increased rates for their home insurance. Gordon Dobler, and Ruen-Yeager Engineers did a great job of navigating a sticky situation, in an expedient manner, and saved many of the trees. A lazier city engineer in his position would have called for the whole thing to be clear-cut to comply with the federal requirements and moved on. Instead they assessed the situation tree-by-tree, went back to what was required for the original dike design, and saved what they could.

Thoughts?