CITY OF OMAHA

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

FINAL PUBLIC NOTICE

The City of Omaha has applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funding through Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as a sub- recipient.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), federal actions must be reviewed and evaluated for feasible alternatives and for social, economic, historic, environmental, legal, and safety considerations. Under Executive Order (EO) 11988 and EO 11990, FEMA is required to consider alternatives, and to provide a public notice of any proposed actions in or affecting floodplains or wetlands. EO 12898 also requires FEMA to provide the opportunity for public participation in the planning process and to consider potential impacts to minority and low-income populations. This notice may also fulfill requirements under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

Funding for the proposed project will be conditional upon compliance with all applicable federal, tribal, state, and local laws, regulations, floodplain standards, permit requirements and conditions.

Sub-Applicant: City of Omaha

Project Title: Flood Mitigation at Papillion Creek Water Resource Recovery Facility (FEMA DR-4420-26)

Location of Proposed Work:

Facility                          Address                  Latitude       Longitude          Date of Construction

Papillion Creek                                                                                        Facility built circa

Water Resource     15705 Harlan Lewis         41.08572     -95.86635           1960’s/1970’s (Per      

Facility                   Road, Bellevue, NE                                                  USGS Historic

                                                                                                           Topographic Maps

Special Flood Hazard Area Zone:

All work is located in an AH Floodzone. Confirmation of location in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) was determined by the Sarpy County Flood Insurance Rate Map, Panel Number: 31153C0230G, dated 12/02/2005. The proposed work conforms to all applicable State of Nebraska and local floodplain regulations. There is a potential for the facility to be impacted by future flooding events due to its location within the AH floodzone. The proposed work is located near wetlands per the United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory, however, the project has little potential to impact or affect wetland values.

Proposed Work and Purpose:

The Papillion Creek Water Resources and Recovery Facility was inundated with floodwaters from the nearby confluence of the Missouri and Platte Rivers and damaged capacitor banks, switchgear, switchboards, generators and transformers. The Sub-Applicant is proposing to replace and elevate the equipment by placing the equipment on top of concrete pads to prevent future damage.

Project Alternatives:

Alternative #1 (No action): Would implement flood protection measures on specific equipment. While this will allow plant managers to improve particularly vulnerable and/or critical pieces of equipment for flood protection measures, it will not uniformly apply 450-year protection to all the PCWRRF electrical equipment. Public safety would be lowered, and costs would continue to be incurred in flood events. A “no-action alternative” would leave the PCWRRF highly vulnerable to repeated damages and service disruption from overtopped levees. Without flood protection measures at a minimum, the plant’s ability to discharge treated effluent into the river when at high flood stages is at risk, potentially hydraulically forcing partially treated water to be discharged within the site. Environmental and public safety risks also remain.

Comment Period:

Comments are solicited from the public; local, state or federal agencies, and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of the proposed project. The comments should be made in writing and addressed to the following email: kate.stojsavljevic@fema.dhs.gov. Please send comments with the subject line [DR-4420-NE-HMA26 11988 COMMENT].

All comments are due by no later than 15 days of the posted date of this notice.

1/21, 1/22, 1/25, 1/26, 1/27, 1/28, 1/29, 2/1, 2/2, 2/3, 2/4, 2/5, 2/8, 2/9, 2/10

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