Lawrenceburg work session backs preparing $70 million levee grant; council asked to pledge $4.2 million match

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — At a Lawrenceburg City work session on Aug. 13, consultants and local flood-control officials outlined a plan to seek roughly $70 million in federal grant money to complete engineering, permitting and construction on the combined Lawrenceburg–Greendale levee system and asked the City Council to consider committing $4.2 million as its share of a 25% local match.

Consultant Jennifer Ray, senior grant writer with JMT, told council members the project “requires about a $16,800,000 match, 25% match. It's about a $70,000,000 project.” Ray said the conservancy and the city of Greendale already passed resolutions committing $4.2 million each and urged Lawrenceburg to adopt a matching resolution now so the group is prepared when short federal funding windows open. “We are here. We're ready to go. We have everything in line, and we can apply,” Ray said.

The work session discussion centered on why the match and a signed resolution are needed before an application and on which grant programs to pursue. FEMA Region 5 has reinitiated updated flood mapping that will treat Lawrenceburg and Greendale as a single system; Ray and technical consultants said obtaining the levee upgrades is critical to maintain provisional accreditation with the National Flood Insurance Program. Without accreditation, officials warned, properties could be required to carry flood insurance and redevelopment prospects could be affected.

Technical details and costs

Mondell Group and JMT engineers described the primary components expected in the project. Luke Johnstone of the Mondell Group said the Lawrenceburg work would focus on relief-well replacements…