SALISBURY – A waterfront park in Wicomico will expand with the acquisition of neighboring property.
On Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council voted 6-0, with Councilman Bill McCain abstaining, to acquire three parcels along Cove Road for the purposes of demolishing existing buildings and converting the land back into public open space. Marilyn Williams, the county’s land development coordinator, noted the purchase would allow Wicomico to expand Cove Road Beach, a shoreline park along the Nanticoke River.
“FEMA wants us, and really any municipality that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, to go after properties like this …,” she said. “It really started out as doing something to remove these structures from the flood insurance program and stop all the repetitive damage to the properties. It never really started out as an acquisition of the Cove Road property.”
Officials noted the three parcels, totaling 29 acres, contained two homes. Williams said the prior owner had initially worked with the county to secure Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for the purpose of raising his home.
“His house would flood, and it was becoming more frequently flooded with all of the higher-than-normal tides,” she explained.
Raising a home is quite different from razing a home.
More space for Fake Day and his NPR liberal buddies to force bad folk music on us. Dear God, please send a hurricane the weened of the Folk Festival.