ELLICOTT CITY. MD. — Howard County Executive Calvin Ball will hold a public meeting in Ellicott City to unveil a new assistance program for flood mitigation around Main Street.
The county is now accepting applications for the “Flood Mitigation Assistance Pilot Program." Residential and commercial property owners in and around Old Ellicott city are encouraged to apply.
It’s a grant program that would match up to 50 percent of the cost of flood mitigation projects. Officials said the county would match up to half of the costs of the project with a cap at $5,000. The program will be reevaluated after a year.
Residential and commercial property owners can apply by downloading an application on the EC Safe and Sound website. Applications are due by March 29, and grant money will be awarded on April 29.
The projects that will consider flood doors, relocation of HVAC units and new drainage systems. This is one step in Ball’s plan to prevent the kind of devastating flooding we saw in 2016 and 2018 in Old Ellicott City.
He unveiled phase one of the safe and sound project a couple of weeks ago, which included a new emergency alert system to warn residents and business owners about potential flooding.
Ball will be in Annapolis Tuesday afternoon to show support for a bill being considered in the House of Delegates that would provide state assistance to this grant program.
Tuesday night’s meeting will layout the grant program starts at 7:00 p.m at the George Howard building. A second meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m at the George Howard building.
