Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 11, 1995                   TAG: 9511120011
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FEMA SUSPENDS SALEM FROM FLOOD INSURANCE PLAN

If you're trying to get a mortgage on a home in Salem, you could face some problems if the house lies in the100-year flood plain.

The city has been suspended from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance plan, which defines flood plains in particular localities, said Planning Director Joe Yates.

Because of changes in FEMA's flood plan - mostly in the wording - Salem was required to update its own flood plain regulations but wasn't given enough time to do so, Yates said.

Yates said he received a letter from FEMA in September notifying him that eight changes needed to be made in the wording of the city's flood plain regulations. The agency gave the city an Oct. 18 deadline to make these changes.

But under Virginia law, such a change would take a minimum of about 60 days, Yates said. A public hearing must be held, for which two weeks' notice must be given.

Salem's Planning Commission will consider the change Wednesday. City Council, which meets Monday and normally would not meet again until Nov. 27, has scheduled a meeting Friday morning to consider the amendment on an emergency basis, said City Manager Randy Smith.

"These amendments are little old picky wording changes," Smith said. "It's not like they're raising the elevation" and changing the flood plain.

Vice Mayor Sonny Tarpley, who is vice president of Salem Bank and Trust, said the problem was brought to his attention by an insurance agent who could not write a policy when he discovered the city had been canceled from FEMA's flood plan.

Anyone trying mortgage a home that lies within the 100-year flood plain could face delays because most lenders will not approve a loan for such a home without flood insurance, Tarpley said.

No one could be reached at FEMA's regional office in Philadelphia on Thursday evening or Friday because of the Veterans Day holiday.

A public affairs officer at FEMA's headquarters in Washington, D.C., said that normally a community would be placed on probation before being suspended from the flood insurance plan. He could not elaborate on Salem's situation.

"This isn't done lightly," Mark Stevens said. "It's only as a last resort that a community is put on probation."

Yates said the city has asked the office of Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, to request that FEMA grant Salem an extension, because the changes were so minor.

No one could be reached at Goodlatte's office Friday because of the holiday.