There is good reason to conclude that Kathy Jones-McCann’s effort to get after-the-fact approval of a building project in the McKenzie River flood zone will fail.

A recent letter to the editor in Lookout recounts how McCann put large sums of campaign contributions in the hands of two Lane County commissioners who voted to waive a Lane County regulation that prohibited construction in a flood zone.

A majority of the commissioners also voted to waive a federal setback requirement. The federal requirement stipulates that setbacks from flood zones are necessary for residents there to be eligible to purchase federally subsidized flood insurance.

Commissioners backpedaled on the federal waiver after receiving a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that said it may put the county out of compliance with National Flood Insurance Program rules.

So now the commission has waived a county setback requirement, but will claim its property owners are still eligible for federal flood insurance.

I suspect the feds may have some doubts about that, and that FEMA’s participation is conditioned on the local jurisdiction’s protection of the setback. Maybe FEMA can resolve the matter. The more serious question is whether the federal government might disallow any flood insurance reimbursement for a county flagrantly allowing construction in a flood zone.

The county commissioners who voted for the waiver should repeal it before their action imposes serious consequences on other county residents.

Tom Barkin
Eugene