FAIRHOPE – While most of the debris from Hurricanes Sally and Zeta has been collected, fallen trees are still not picked up along Fly Creek as officials debate which agency is responsible for the cost, Fairhope officials said.
Richard Johnson, Fairhope public works director, said the U.S. National Conservation Resources Service was expected to pay the cost of collection.
“We went round and round with NRCS, who’s supposed to be the primary lead on the funding there,” Johnson told City Council members on Dec. 14. “They finally at least put it in writing and abdicated that they weren’t going to be in it for the money.”
Fairhope officials then contacted the State Lands Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Johnson said.
“So then, it goes to state lands, ADCNR, and they are abdicating,” Johnson said. “The issue that we have is FEMA is telling us that they can’t pay for something if there’s another federal agency that’s supposed to be responsible for it. So, we discussed this with the mayor. She has been doing her best to try to talk to those decision makers who are responsible for these waters of the state, these waters of the U.S.”
Most debris collection costs have been paid by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA paid 75 percent of the collection cost with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency paying half the remaining costs and the municipality or county paying the final 12.5 percent.
Without reimbursement, Fairhope would have to pay the entire cost of going up Fly Creek and removing the debris.
“The biggest concern is it’s not an inexpensive bill to address those trees, but it really gets expensive if we get stuck with 100 percent of the cost,” Johnson said.
Johnson said most other debris including construction and demolition, of C and D, items from damaged buildings has been collected. Some stumps are still being picked up.
“Pretty much the roadside collection of C and D ended a couple of weeks ago,” Johnson said. “One of the slower processes, the large stumps of the trees that the trucks can lift, there’s a special truck that’s out there and we’re probably going to sign off on that with the contractor by the end of this week and that pretty much takes care of the right of way issues and C and D.”
Hurricanes left more than 500,000 cubic yards of debris in Fairhope, according to city estimates.
