AUBURN — New federal flood plain maps will move some residents out of flood zones, saving them thousands of dollars in insurance payments, according to Auburn City Planner Eric Cousens.

But the proposed changes will move other residents into the flood zones and Cousens recommended all residents check their property on the city’s Website beginning next week to look for changes.

“Some people will see a change, but there are people in the city that have not had flood insurance that will now need it,” Cousens said. “Those people may have information that FEMA may not have had and they need to speak now to get these fixed, before those new maps become permanent.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is making updated flood risk maps for the entire country public, opening the chance for property owners and residents to appeal beginning June 7.

Standard home insurance policies do not cover flood damage. The federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program in 1968. FEMA creates maps of the flood plains that are used to set those rates, and is currently updating the maps for all of Androscoggin County.

The city has already convinced FEMA to change the new flood maps around Taylor Pond.

FEMA’s original maps, released in November, would have raised the flood elevation in Taylor Pond by 1 foot and required 35 new properties to get flood insurance and increased insurance rates for 540 other residences.

FEMA officials took a second look at the pond when they learned Auburn would challenge the map.

That new survey reduced the pond’s flood elevation. That removed several properties from the flood map, allowing the owners to get by with lower insurance rates or not getting insurance at all.

Cousens said city residents can check the city’s Website, www.auburnmaine.gov, to check their flood risk beginning Monday, June 11.

If they disagree with the FEMA flood maps, they have until September to challenge them. Cousens said challenges should go through the city’s Planning Office.

Cousens said the city plans to host two public meetings for residents who could be effected by the changes.

The new maps are scheduled to go into use in March 2013. They can mean big money for residents.

“One man, looking to buy a property around Taylor Pond, said it was a $2,000 difference per year depending on if the property is in the flood zone or not,” Cousens said.

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