The Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed Thursday to a change that could keep the owners of thousands of parcels of land in Oxnard and Fillmore from having to buy flood insurance, officials said.

By considering the Santa Clara River and Sespe Creek levees in segments instead of in their entirety, FEMA could grant preliminary accreditation letters to parts of the levees. That might change the number of parcels considered to be in Flood Plain A, a designation that would require property owners with a federally backed loan to buy insurance and could result in some building restrictions.

"Hopefully, they'll never have to buy flood insurance," said Jeff Pratt, director of the Ventura County Watershed Protection District, which owns and maintains the levees. "There will still be areas of Fillmore and Oxnard in the flood plain, but we will be working to remove those as well."

In Fillmore, for example, estimates place the monthly cost of flood insurance at about $100.

New maps expected in 2009

Because of concerns with certain parts of the levees, FEMA had drawn its preliminary flood insurance rate maps as if the levees were not there.

The maps could be published next year, with the requirements going into effect at that time.

During a conference call Thursday afternoon among FEMA engineers led by Kathleen Schaefer, and involving Pratt, Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long and Rep. Elton Gallegly's District Chief of Staff Brian Miller, Schaefer said the Watershed Protection District could write a letter segmenting the levees and pursuing accreditation for the segments, Pratt said.

Schaefer could not be reached for comment late Thursday. Gallegly spokesman Tom Pfeifer confirmed that the meeting took place but declined to comment on it because he was not present.

Pratt said he believes the Santa Clara River levee will be accredited from Highway 101 to Saticoy and the Sespe Creek levee will be accredited north of Telegraph Road.

"We know these portions of the levees are good," Pratt said. "It's a foregone conclusion."

Fillmore Public Works Director Bert Rapp was encouraged by the decision.

More good news'

Two weeks earlier, FEMA had agreed to allow the continued use of a manual beam system to close a railroad cut-through in the Sespe Creek levee. Before that, FEMA had wanted the beam system to be replaced by an automatic gate.

"This is more good news," Rapp said of Thursday's development. "We're anxious to see how it actually pans out."

Rapp said an analysis will determine exactly how many parcels could be taken out of the flood plain in Fillmore as a result of segments of the levee being accredited. Pratt said he believed the change would affect several thousand parcels in Fillmore and about 1,000 in Oxnard.

Potential issues remain in the southern part of the Sespe Creek levee, which was built in the 1970s, and in part of the Santa Clara River levee, which was rebuilt in 1969 following flooding. "There's still a large part of Oxnard that we need to work on," Pratt said. "That may involve raising some levees or some levee retrofit."