That was nearly the case for some residents in older East End homes. City ordinances require that the living space of any new structure be 1 foot above the 100-year flood plain. Those ordinances don't apply to older dwellings. Charles Ross owns four buildings in the neighborhood. One now sits in 4 to 5 feet of water.
Next door are two renovated, red-brick houses.
The flooding won't affect the community-development plan, passed in 1992, for the neighborhood, said Patrick Ewing, a community development analyst for the Department of Neighborhood Services. Proximity, views may win Future development, of course, will hinge on how prospective residents react. Jerome Imbus, a developer who hopes to build 10 single-family houses in the neighborhood, doesn't know how people will react to the flood. I think the area will boom,'' he said. Betty Burns, chairwoman of the East End Area Council, agrees.