About Us

In order to bring relief to Comfort property owners from both the peril of flooding and burdensome administrative regulations, the Comfort Floodplain Coalition was established as an ad hoc, grassroots, organization on February 25, 2012.   The CFC is not incorporated as a non-profit and has no legal standing.  There are no dues and no bank account. 

Two events preceded the organizational meeting.  The first was the adoption on December 17^th, 2010 of a new Flood Insurance Rate Map covering the Comfort area; the net effect of the new map was an increase in the area designated as ‘floodplain’ by about 30%.  To the bewilderment of many citizens land that had never flooded in the 130 year history of Comfort was now included in the floodplain and, paradoxically, some lots with a long history of flooding were removed from the floodplain.  The economic impact on property values that are now included in the floodplain is immense as is the cost of flood insurance that is required by most mortgage lenders.

Secondly, and after years of liberal interpretation of the FEMA rules about construction of accessory buildings in the floodway, county regulators began to take a stringent attitude on code enforcement. 

Two committees have been established to work on the two major undertakings of the group.  The Mitigation Committee chaired by Cheryl Pierce and Nick Watson is tasked with working with the appropriate political officials of the Comfort area to achieve flood protection through structural measures such as retention ponds, dams, and improved flowage of natural waterways.

The second committee chaired by Tim DeWitt is the Regulatory Committee charged with working with Kendall County officials to moderate the restrictive regulatory environment that is keeping the owners of floodplain property from the peaceable enjoyment, maintenance, and improvement of their property most of which is historic in nature.  An example of a burdensome regulation would be the requirement to provide the county Floodplain Administrator with a Hydraulic and Hydrological study at a cost of several thousand dollars prior to building a carport or gazebo in the floodway. 

Stakeholders are encouraged to participate either actively or passively in our meetings all of which are open to the public and published well in advance on this website.

The president of the group is Emmanuel “Mani” Flatten who can be contacted at info@comfortflood.org.  Please bear in mind that this is a volunteer undertaking:  calls and emails will be returned as soon as feasible.