The town of Camillus recently reapplied for a $116,000 FEMA grant to build a culvert running under the town’s railroad tracks, parallel to the one pictured right which runs under Milton Avenue. The town would provide $29,000 in additional funding toward the project.

The grant request comes after legislation passed requiring the owners of forty homes on Sunnybrook Drive, Garland Road, Wilmont Road and Myron Road, which currently reside in a flood plane, to buy flood insurance estimated between $500 and $2,000 per year. Previously, homeowners only had to buy the insurance if they planned on selling their homes.

Councilor Bill Davern said the second culvert would increase the flow of water flowing from the nearby brook’s detention basin and nullify the area’s flood plane status.

“It’s never had a flood, but as long as they call it a flood plane, you need this insurance,” Davern said. The town’s original request for the grant in 2005 was denied due to FEMA’s occupation with Hurricane Katrina.