CONWAY — Conway officials are waiting to hear if the town’s application for a FEMA property acquisition project that they submitted several months ago has been approved.

At stake is over $800,000, which would go towards buying 14 Transvale Acres properties that were heavily damaged by the historically high flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. The funds would be administered through the state Homeland Security and Emergency Management division, but the town would own the properties, clearing the lots of any buildings on them.

The town will also apply for a community development block grant (CDBG) through the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority. The proposed application to the program is seeking $500,000, of which $25,000 would be used by the town for administration costs. Those funds would provide the 25 percent local match required from FEMA.

On Aug. 28,2011 during Irene, the height of the Saco River at the gauge in Conway rose from 3.25 feet at noon to 10 feet at 4 p.m. Flood stage is considered to be nine feet. Just after midnight on Aug. 29, the river crested at 17.23 feet. The West Side Road was closed at both the Conway and North Conway ends. Transvale Acres is located off of the West Side close to the Conway Village end of the scenic road.

The swollen river swept through Transvale Acres, the majority of which is located in the floodplain conservation district, with undeveloped land, mostly in agricultural use, on the north and south boundaries of the riverside community. Put in before flood plain ordinance and zoning were in place, over the years some of the building on the very small lots, meant for camping or seasonal cottages, was done without proper permitting.

Earl Sires, town manager, said Wednesday that there aren’t more than a dozen residences now occupied on a full-time basis. Emergency personnel rescued 22 people from Transvale Acres during the flooding.

For those involved in the buy-out program, the town is holding off further enforcement of violations for building unpermitted in the flood plain.

The town recently withdrew its zoning violations action against Larry Blaney and Susan Wilson-Blaney, the full-time residents whose home is partly in the floodway and partly in the floodplain. The home did not receive enough damage to qualify for the buy-out program. Supported by columns, the waters during Irene surrounded the home, but did not get inside. The couple had gone before the Conway Zoning Board of Adjustment seeking a waiver, allowing all existing structures to remain in the Floodplain Conservation District.

There are still septic and other issues, Sires said, that need to be resolved for the Blarneys.

That’s true of other properties, where structural issues - whether the buildings in the flood plain had been built after getting the permits, or if they had been there long enough to be granted grandfather status – have been investigated first. Few have been granted variances from the ZBA for their buildings.

“The next set of things is septic,” Sires said. The town will work with the state Department of Environmental Resources on those issues.

By law, property acquired by the town through the program cannot be developed, and must remain in open space.

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Sara Young-Knox may be reached at syoungknox@newstote.com.