WHITESBORO  — Appraisals for the homes of more than 130 property owners in the village of Whitesboro have been completed as part of The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) buyout program for homes that were impacted by the 2019 Halloween storm and subsequent flooding.  

Lasting impacts

The village of Whitesboro, specifically homes in the vicinity of the Sauquoit Creek, have experienced issues related to storms and flooding since at least 2010, but no storm has had such a heavy impact than the storm that took place Oct. 31, 2019.   

“It was that storm that ultimately led to the NRCS buyout program, which is underway and in progress today,” Whitestown Town Supervisor Shaun Kaleta said.    

The town of Whitestown entered into a formal cooperative agreement with the NRCS in July 2021, which marked the official kickoff of the buyout program.  

Buyout program progress 

The NRCS has reviewed these appraisals and has notified the landowners of the compensation they will receive through the Floodplain Easement Program, a part of the Emergency Watershed Protection Program.  

Whitestown has ordered preliminary title commitments for each piece of land, which NRCS is reviewing. The NRCS has also finished environmental inspections of all of the homes and is gathering more documentation to conduct an internal review. 

The NRCS will then extend an offer to purchase the rights to the property, and Whitestown will simultaneously extend an offer to purchase the remaining value of the property to each landowner. 

When the landowners accept the offers, the NRCS will devise a timeline for the remaining steps, which will end with Whitestown owning the property, and with the property owner being fully compensated.    

Kaleta said that this is a multi-year program, and could take around four years to complete. 

“The town, along with NRCS, we’re moving as quickly as possible to get this done,” Kaleta said. “Most importantly, the big news is that in April of this year, each applicant was sent a letter by NRCS indicating what their appraised value was. The good news is that the vast majority of applicants agreed to their appraised value, so much so that NRCS determined that everyone who said yes has been approved to continue in the program and everyone who has said yes is on track to be bought out.” 

“We continue to make progress, we contribute to make strides, everyone who’s been affected by repetitive flooding is still on track to being bought out,” he added.  

Program future

The project’s final phase will be the demolition of all buildings and the restoration of the land into a floodplain, which the NRCS will fund.  

“We are committed to helping the Town of Whitestown and its citizens,” Blake Glover, NRCS State Conservationist, said in a statement. “Together we will work to restore the floodplain to address future flooding events, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and improve water quality.   

The buyout program is a part of a larger effort — the Sauquoit Creek Channel & Floodplain Restoration Project — which aims to mitigate and prevent future flooding, a project that is also in progress.  

“While we’re working as quickly as possible to relocate people, residential property owners who have been affected by repetitive flooding, it is so important that we’re mitigating as much as possible at the same time,” Kaleta said. “It’s important to help those who have already been unfortunately affected by flooding, but at the same time it’s important to protect against future loss. That’s why our Sauquoit Creek Floodplain Restoration program is an all-hands-on-deck approach.”