KELLOGG — Kellogg officials are still awaiting a decision from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the city's long-running request to revise local floodplain maps - a process that could affect flood insurance requirements for hundreds of property owners. 

Mayor Rod Plank provided an update during the city's recent council meeting, saying FEMA continues to review Kellogg's most recent Letter of Map Revision, or LOMR, submission – which was submitted in early July. 

"This item will remain on our monthly council agenda until we have a final determination from FEMA," Plank said. 

According to Plank, FEMA continues to review the city's most recent Letter of Map Revision submission and has not requested any additional information or clarification, a development city officials see as an encouraging sign after years of back-and-forth with federal reviewers. 

"We are optimistic that we are getting close to a decision," Plank said. 

The flood map revision effort dates back to 2017, when Kellogg and other local jurisdictions began examining whether FEMA's existing floodplain maps accurately reflected current conditions along the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River. City officials have argued that newer engineering and hydrologic data suggest some areas face less flood risk than what is shown on current federal maps. 

In 2020, Kellogg, Smelterville and Pinehurst sought updated flood-flow information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The following year, Kellogg submitted its first LOMR request to FEMA using that updated data. Since then, the city has worked through several rounds of review and additional information requests from the agency. 

If approved, the revised maps would significantly reduce the amount of land designated within the floodplain. City officials have previously estimated the mapped floodplain would decrease from roughly 2,500 acres to 760 acres, while the number of affected parcels would fall from about 1,118 to 523. 

City officials have argued that revised flood maps could provide meaningful relief for homeowners. In previous interviews, Kellogg residents described flood insurance premiums climbing into the thousands of dollars annually, costs that supporters of the map revision say are based on outdated flood-risk calculations. 

For now, however, city leaders are continuing to wait for FEMA's final determination. After nearly nine years of work, officials say the absence of new information requests suggests the review process may finally be approaching its conclusion.