EVERETT — Families whose homes and land were destroyed in the Oso mudslide got some encouraging news Wednesday with the announcement that federal authorities had awarded Snohomish County $6.6 million for buyouts.
That’s not the full $9.4 million the county wanted, but it should help ease the financial burden for scores of property owners. Julie and Cory Kuntz own one of the 128 slide-damaged properties. They have been stuck paying a mortgage on unbuildable land where their house once stood.
“We’re hugely grateful,” Julie Kuntz said. “This provides a lot of relief for us and allows us to move on.”
The slide killed 43 people and leveled about 40 homes when it struck on March 22, 2014.
The county applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency last year for a $12.8 million buyout grant, then lowered the request this spring to reflect properties already acquired for Highway 530 reconstruction.
Word that FEMA had accepted the grant came Tuesday night from Washington’s congressional delegation, said Heather Kelly, the county official overseeing long-term recovery efforts from the slide.
The county intends to pay people the pre-slide assessed value of their property. Participation is voluntary.
Also this week, FEMA announced it had approved $7.6 million to reimburse the state and the county for debris-removal costs at the slide.
Separately, the County Council on Wednesday extended by another six months building bans in the immediate slide area and upriver, where flood dangers on the North Fork Stillaguamish have increased.
The emergency moratoriums are now set to remain in effect until late December. That’s intended to allow the county time to complete buyouts, to adopt new land-use regulations for landslide-hazard areas and to study how flood patterns have changed. Further extensions are possible.
While FEMA only promised about two-thirds of the money needed to buy properties in the slide zone, more could be coming.
“This is initial, to get the effort moving forward,” Kelly said. “There may be additional funds.”
Any land purchased with the buyout grant must be set aside as open space in the flood zone.
The first transactions are expected this fall.
“Anything that we receive, it’s just a blessing for us, because it is a voluntary program,” said Ron Thompson, who lost his home in the Steelhead Haven neighborhood.
Minutes before the slide hit, Ron and his wife, Gail, had left the house with Gail’s then-85-year-old mother to go shopping at Costco. They owned their home at Steelhead Haven outright, so they hope to use any buyout money to upgrade the new house they bought near the Oso fire station.
“I’m more excited for those who had mortgages and are struggling to get things going,” he said.
The Kuntzes, who have spent the past year renting, also bought a new home, near Darrington. They plan to move there next month with their teenage son, Quinton. They were traveling to a high school baseball game when the slide struck. Ever since, they have been paying mortgage on the eight acres where they used to live south of Highway 530.
“We were hoping to find out (about the buyout grant) the first of the year,” Julie Kuntz said. “As time went on, we were getting a little nervous about our ability to move into another home.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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