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Resident urges workshop and corrections to county flood vulnerability assessment
Summary
A resident who reviewed the county’s vulnerability assessment presentation and documents told commissioners the assessment contains mapping and factual errors and urged a public workshop and that the county consult flood‑season veterans and local data sources before final submission.
Paul Steel, a Bradford County resident, addressed the board during public comment on April 1 to raise concerns about the county’s ND5 vulnerability/resiliency assessment presented at the March 18 meeting.
Summary of concerns: Steel said he reviewed the presentation video and supporting documents and found mapping errors (he cited Alligator Creek as mislocated on presentation maps) and what he described as incorrect identification of a significant flooding location at the intersection of two county roads. He said he was unsure if presentation errors carried into the official assessment document and urged the county to correct map errors and to validate results against local flood records.
Request for process change: Steel urged the commissioners to hold a workshop to solicit input from residents with lived experience of flooding and to ensure the consultant used local historical flood records. He recommended the assessment incorporate records beginning with the 1998 flood and subsequent events, and mentioned the Bradford (appears as Bradford’s) Water Conservation District collecting flood information since February 2012 and data collected after Hurricane Irma.
Why it matters: Steel said consultant work should include local sources and historical context to avoid overlooking significant flood impacts; he framed the request as a matter of improving planning accuracy before formal submission deadlines.
Next steps: Commissioners acknowledged the concern during later discussion and staff indicated items related to the resilience/vulnerability study would be revisited; Mr. Steel’s request for a workshop was recorded but no formal action was taken at the meeting to schedule one.
