Dr. Julie Nucci and Mr. Jim Overhiser own 260 Main Street — a circa-1849 Greek Revival temple-front residence in the Village of Owego, NY. After a flood in 2011 that peaked at the house’s doorknob, they decided to elevate their house above the floodplain. In 2015, their house became the first home on the National Register of Historic Places in New York State to be elevated for flood mitigation. The house’s elevation design features a number of elegant and creative solutions that serve to mitigate the visual impact of height change, including front stairs broken into two smaller runs with different materials, a raised yard with plantings, and flood vents in new foundation that align with the historic house’s three-bay elevation composition. The elevation project is featured in National Park Service’s Guidelines on Flood Adaptation for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings, and has been covered by local news media such as The Ithaca Journal and Owego Pennysaver.
Dr. Nucci and Mr. Overhiser's Greek Revival home in Owego, NY after structural elevation. Source: National Park Service.
A “charming, authentic historic village along the Susquehanna River” according to its official website, the Village of Owego boasts the state designated Owego Central Historic District, which includes more than 250 structures in a village with a population of less than 4,000 people. In spite of its rich and intact historic fabrics, Owego is vulnerable to flooding: before the 500-year flood in 2011 that reached 75% of all properties within the village, the village experienced back-to-back floods in 2005 and 2006. In fact, the NYSDEC recently designated Owego as a disadvantaged community, with an environmental burden higher than 86% of census tracts statewide and population vulnerability higher than 43% of census tracts statewide.
After the 2011 flood, the village successfully applied for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) to elevate over 20 Owego homes. This funding reimburses 75% of eligible elevation expenses. Unfortunately, only four homes were elevated using this grant funding, one of which is 260 Main Street. Additional financial incentives were provided by NFIP, as well as New York State Historic Preservation Office (NYSHPO)’s Historic Homeownership Rehabilitation Credit.
Elevating a designated historic house in a time that predated many of today’s design and policy resources was by no means an easy task. Nucci spent most of the multi-year process painstakingly navigating through governmental agencies on federal, state and local levels such as FEMA, New York SHPO, and the Owego Historic Preservation Commission (OHPC). After the successful completion of the elevation project, Nucci and Overhiser have been keen on sharing their experience with other homeowners and the general public. They gave a joint presentation on their elevation project at the New York State Floodplain and Stormwater Managers Association’s annual conference in 2022; Nucci has presented the project at various occasions including the Keeping History Above Water 2021 conference and training sessions offered by National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC)’s Commission Assistance and Mentoring Program (CAMP). Nucci is the Flood Resiliency Coordinator for the Village of Owego and chairs Owego’s Climate Smart Communities’ task force. Mr. Overhiser chairs the Owego Historic Preservation Commission (OHPC).
This interview was carried out on Jan. 27, 2023 over Zoom. In this interview, Dr. Nucci and Mr. Overhiser shared details of their elevation project, introduced recent flood adaptation efforts in the Village of Owego, and envisioned changes within the fields of historic preservation and floodplain management from the perspective of homeowners.
“Homeowners shouldn’t have to be privileged to be able to stay safe."
Dr. Nucci measuring the progress of the elevation project. Source: Andrew Thayer for The Ithaca Journal.
Ziming Wang: It’s my privilege to have both of you here. Let’s get started with some more context — how have flooding risks evolved in Owego after the historic flood of 2011? Besides your Greek Revival home, are there other flood adaptation projects taking place in the village?
Julie Nucci & Jim Overhiser: The 500-year flood caused by Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 and the 100-year flood in 2006 are the largest flood events the Village of Owego has experienced in recent years. However, these past flood events may have a long-lasting influence, both emotionally and physically. Physically, a number of homes were damaged, abandoned or fell into disrepair after the flood of 2011, which led to a municipal buyout program that managed to acquire about a dozen flood-impacted homes. When Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast in 2012, traumatized local residents rushed to empty their basements and anxiously awaited flood impact. At that time, we knew from weather data that Sandy was not going to hit us, and in fact it didn’t; but the anxiety among residents really demonstrated the PTSD caused by memories of earlier floods. To repay the kindness of communities that helped us in 2011, the Owego fire department sent out a crew and supplies to help Sandy victims.
Speaking of flood adaptation projects, the village of Owego submitted two HMGP applications in the spring of 2022, one for generators to back up critical village infrastructure and another to elevate an 1802 Greek Revival home. These applications are still pending. There are some larger-scale adaptation proposals under consideration by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In the fall of 2022, two applications were submitted for USACE funding via the Floodplain Management Services program. One is to generate adaptation strategies for village buildings in the floodplain and the second is to redesign the village’s stormwater system. The Village of Owego joined the state’s Climate Smart Communities Grant Program, and received a $125K grant early in 2023. The grant will fund a private partner to help the village pursue entry into FEMA’s Community Rating System.
Ziming Wang: Following the historic flood of 2011, it took you around four years to elevate your house. What was the most time-consuming task in the whole process? Which federal, state and local agencies did you encounter as you worked through project review, permit, grant and insurance procedures?
Julie Nucci & Jim Overhiser: The FEMA HMGP funding was awarded about two years after the flood. Since we were the first house on the National Register in New York State to be elevated for flood mitigation, it took another six months to get approval from the SHPO for our elevation project. FEMA determined that we must elevate the house two feet and the SHPO determined we couldn’t elevate it more than four feet. We worked closely with the Owego Historic Preservation Commission (OHPC) for local design reviews. The state-level Historic Homeownership Rehabilitation Tax Credit is a great program to pursue: it provided an income tax credit equal to 20% of our qualified rehabilitation expenditures, on the condition that at least 5% of all rehabilitation expenses were allocated to the exterior of the building. Elevation is an expensive process and the 20% historic tax credit is a great resource to help defray uncovered costs and the homeowner’s 25% responsibility for the FEMA grant.
Ziming Wang: How difficult was it for a homeowner to get information about policies, procedures, and available technical/financial assistance on flood adaptation? What changes in the systems of historic preservation and emergency management would you like to see in order to make flood adaptation easier and more efficient?
Julie Nucci & Jim Overhiser: Well, based on our trials and tribulations, there are several things that we believe will benefit historic homeowners like us in the process of flood adaptation:
First of all, better collaboration between SHPO and local preservation commission during project review. Our project went through independent design reviews by SHPO and OHPC, and the final design scheme approved by the local commission was not approved by SHPO. Our landscape architect had to rework the design into a version acceptable to the SHPO. We understand that there’s a hierarchy in the historic preservation system, but in retrospect, we think it would be great if we could have had SHPO representatives virtually attend our local preservation commission reviews. It would have saved time and design fees.
Secondly, a more streamlined workflow between homeowners and various governmental entities. One thing Nucci notes is that it was possible for her to navigate the review and permit process because she is a PhD degree holder with extensive research training — there are mitigation standards and regulations, historic preservation standards, insurance processes, application procedures, tax credit processes and procedures to be learned, etc., which can easily become a major roadblock to homeowners. We believe that homeowners shouldn’t have to be privileged to be able to stay safe; there needs to be more equity in mitigation projects, since everyone deserves to be safer. One photograph that Nucci uses in her presentation is the pile of paperwork and receipts produced in the project, which measures several inches thick. A simpler, more straightforward process would enable more people to participate.
Moreover, homeowners will also benefit from better public outreach and information sharing mechanisms. Nucci noted: “We learned about New York State’s Historic Homeownership Rehabilitation Credit because my sister found it online and shared the information with me.”
All that being said, we are very thankful to the dedicated FEMA, DHSES, and SHPO staff who worked with us — they were very supportive in providing guidance and assistance throughout the elevation process.
Ziming Wang: Speaking of information sharing — would you prefer to see it done through the creation of local resilience officers or coordinators, or through online portals and virtual platforms?
Julie Nucci & Jim Overhiser: The short answer is “Yes” — anything that strengthens communication and breaks the silos of regulatory systems would be helpful. If we had a local resilience officer guiding us, it would surely have been easier for us to navigate the elevation process.
Ziming Wang: Many preservationists and planners I’ve spoken to have stressed the critical importance of financial incentives in bringing flood adaptation projects into reality. How have various grants and incentives financed the elevation of your house, and how important were them to you?
Julie Nucci & Jim Overhiser: FEMA’s HMGP funding covered 75% of eligible expenses that occurred in our project. This included the structural elevation of our house, but not building a new garage in our backyard and patio work. The old garage had to be removed to enable the beams used for elevation to be placed under the house. We gave away our garage. Someone came, carefully deconstructed it, and reassembled it in a nearby village. That was much better than putting a perfectly good building in the landfill. However, This is an area where equity is again an issue: we had to front 100% of the costs and wait for the 75% reimbursement. This is a financial barrier antithetical to equity.
As previously discussed, the state Historic Homeownership Rehabilitation Credit program was also instrumental in making elevation financially viable. Although we had to pay a portion of our elevation project by ourselves, our income taxes were offset for several years following the project’s completion.
Our flood insurance went from over $1800 to about $372 per year, at least initially. However, under FEMA’s current Risk Rating 2.0 System, our insurance will increase by a factor of 5 since Risk Rating 2.0 is not incentivizing and rewarding flood mitigation. To be specific, the mitigation discount in our current Risk Rating 2.0 policy is $23! That is crazy after elevating the house 4’ and moving the electrical and HVAC from the basement to high on the elevated first floor. FEMA needs to acknowledge this weakness in their new model and address it. If they don’t, property owners who would have mitigated will opt out – which is bad for the owners’ mental health and the safety and integrity of their community. Homeowners also need to know that if there is a lapse in coverage, then policies currently gliding towards the full risk rate at 18% per year, will be reinstated at full risk rate.
Another issue we’re seeing in our town has to do with FEMA’s Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) process required as part of grant applications. The high cost of elevating historic homes in an area with low real estate values can pose challenges for local homeowners to clear the BCA process.
Ziming Wang: As owners of the first house that was elevated in the village, how would you imagine built environment changes in Owego as it transforms towards flood resilience? Would you imagine walking along a group of historic houses elevated above the floodplain, in a manner similar to your house?
Julie Nucci & Jim Overhiser: We’d like to imagine walking among appropriately adapted historic houses in our village, whether they are elevated, dry-floodproofed, or wet-floodproofed — whichever works the best. These are signs that people are safe from flood risks. We’re hoping that more homeowners will mitigate risk by moving critical equipment out of their basements. When Jim speaks with other historic homeowners on flood adaptation, many would ask “Why doesn’t the government just dredge the river in front of us?” It’s important to build community awareness and understand that there are things that can be done by a homeowner in response to flood risk. Large-scale waterway modifications are rare, as they are very expensive and can only be done if they don’t push the danger downstream.
Ziming Wang: I noticed that besides being homeowners, you are also serving as resilience and preservation officers in the village. What opportunities have these positions brought you? What are some important next steps that should be taken to steward the village towards flood resilience?
Julie Nucci & Jim Overhiser: We actually have a complementary partnership with each other — one of us (Julie) is the “flood person,” and the other (Jim) the “preservation person.” We hold advisory roles in the village — homeowners come to us when they need us, and we share our information and recommendations with them. We tell people that we will be flooded again, and resilience can be achieved if you have the will. We have sometimes acted as tour guides — a lot of local residents stopped by our house when it was temporarily lifted by pillars and beams, and we have been visited by SHPO staff, local floodplain managers, as well as a group of Cornell faculty and students since the completion of elevation.
While Jim is devoted to overseeing the preservation of this impressive little village and making it eventually more resilient, Julie has recently taken on a consultation role with the National Hazard Mitigation Association (NHMA), which aims to share information and resources on community-based climate resilience undertakings.
As for the immediate next step, we believe it is crucial that we continue to un-silo ourselves and engage more partners in various fields. “Resilience to Natural Hazards” has already been written into OHPC’s Design Guidelines. We will both participate in the Village of Owego’s Hazard Mitigation Plan update starting in May 2023, with a goal of integrating climate adaptation, flood mitigation, and historic preservation into the plan. Doing this will open up opportunities for future funding. Finally, the OHPC is working with local real estate agents, so they can better communicate information on flood adaptation, historic preservation, flood insurance, and the historic tax credit program to prospective homeowners.
* This interview text has been transcribed and edited based on the interviewer’s notes.
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