The Galveston County Daily News

County commissioners are expected within the next month to decide whether to push ahead with buyouts of about 560 homes or properties — mostly on the Bolivar Peninsula — that were destroyed or severely damaged by Hurricane Ike.

More than 1,200 homeowners applied for the county’s buyout program.

The homes included in the Phase 1 buyout proposal are within a 300-foot buffer zone from the shore.

Most of the properties under consideration are on the first two beach-front rows along the peninsula. There also are 11 Jamaica Beach houses included in the application.

The buyout proposal also includes 94 properties in the Gilchrist community. Those homes were included because the Rollover Pass water caused flooding further inland.

The city of Galveston has its own buyout program.

Frances Griffin, who is among the 1,200 who applied for a buyout, found that her property on Avenue E in Crystal Beach is outside the proposed buffer zone.

“If this is jerked out from under us, we can’t move forward,” she said.

The consultant managing the county’s application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates the county will have $111 million to purchase the properties.

Thad Leugemors, of Beck Disaster Recovery, said he had expected the county’s application to have been approved last month, but FEMA had a series of questions that need to be answered first.

He told commissioners he should have the questions answered to the federal agency’s satisfaction by the end of next week.

Leugemors told commissioners that the $111 million could be enough to purchase all of the properties of the 1,200 applicants, but commissioners seem leery of turning that many properties into publicly owned land. The bulk of the commissioners appear to be set to approve the initial 560 homes.

Still, there are concerns about the maintenance responsibility the county would assume by owning 560 vacant lots once the buyouts are completed.

It should take 18 months to two years to complete the buyouts, Leugemors said.

Commissioners want to avoid buying out single lots on streets where there are other homes.

“I don’t want a checkerboard of properties to be purchased,” Commissioner Pat Doyle said. “I also want to balance it with the tax roll implications.”

Any properties purchased would become county owned and not available for private development.

Under the federal hazard mitigation grant program, there are use restrictions on properties purchased. The land becomes green space and cannot be used for home or business construction.

The county can find other uses for the land, including improving drainage in an area or developing open park space.County commissioners are expected to approve a buyout plan by mid-November.