2007 Minnesota Statutes

103F.161 FLOOD HAZARD MITIGATION GRANTS.
    Subdivision 1. Grants authorized. (a) The commissioner may make grants to local
governments to:
(1) conduct floodplain damage reduction studies to determine the most feasible, practical,
and effective methods and programs for mitigating the damages due to flooding within flood
prone rural and urban areas and their watersheds; and
(2) plan and implement flood mitigation measures.
(b) The commissioner may cooperate with the North Dakota State Water Commission, local
governmental units, and local water management organizations in this state and in North Dakota,
and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to develop hydrologic models and conduct
studies to evaluate the practicality and feasibility of flood control measures along the Red River
from East Grand Forks to the Canadian border. The commissioner may make grants to local
governmental units for these purposes. Flood control measures that may be investigated include
agricultural and urban levee systems, wetland restoration, floodwater impoundments, farmstead
ring-dikes, and stream maintenance activities.
    Subd. 2. Action on grant applications. (a) A local government may apply to the
commissioner for a grant on forms provided by the commissioner. The commissioner shall confer
with the local government requesting the grant and may make a grant up to $150,000 based on the
following considerations:
(1) the extent and effectiveness of mitigation measures already implemented by the local
government requesting the grant;
(2) the feasibility, practicality, and effectiveness of the proposed mitigation measures and the
associated nonflood related benefits and detriments;
(3) the level of grant assistance that should be provided to the local government, based on
available facts regarding the nature, extent, and severity of flood problems;
(4) the frequency of occurrence of severe flooding that has resulted in declaration of the area
as a flood disaster area by the president of the United States;
(5) the economic, social, and environmental benefits and detriments of the proposed
mitigation measures;
(6) whether the floodplain management ordinance or regulation adopted by the local
government meets the minimum standards established by the commissioner, the degree of
enforcement of the ordinance or regulation, and whether the local government is complying with
the ordinance or regulation;
(7) the degree to which the grant request is consistent with local water plans developed under
chapters 103B and 103D;
(8) the financial capability of the local government to solve its flood hazard problems
without financial assistance; and
(9) the estimated cost and method of financing of the proposed mitigation measures based on
local money and federal and state financial assistance.
(b) If the amount of the grant requested is $150,000 or more, the commissioner shall
determine, under the considerations in paragraph (a), whether any part of the grant should be
awarded. The commissioner must submit an appropriation request to the governor and the
legislature for funding consideration before each odd-numbered year, consisting of requests
or parts of grant requests of $150,000 or more. The commissioner must prioritize the grant
requests, under the considerations in paragraph (a), beginning with the projects the commissioner
determines most deserving of financing.
(c) A grant may not exceed one-half the total cost of the proposed mitigation measures.
(d) After July 1, 1991, grants made under this section may be made to local governments
whose grant requests are part of, or responsive to, a comprehensive local water plan prepared
under chapter 103B or 103D.
    Subd. 3. Red River basin flood mitigation projects. Notwithstanding subdivision 2, a grant
for implementation of a flood hazard mitigation project in the Red River basin that is consistent
with the 1998 mediation agreement and approved by the Red River flood damage reduction
work group may be for up to 75 percent of the cost of the proposed mitigation measures for the
Agassiz-Audubon, North Ottawa, Hay Creek, and Thief River subwatershed projects.
History: 1990 c 391 art 6 s 14; 1994 c 627 s 1; 1998 c 401 s 37; 2000 c 492 art 1 s 41