Cole County Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger told U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt on Friday afternoon the federal government could be working to block future development in the Missouri River bottomland in southern Callaway County.
"They are in the process of re-evaluating the flood plain, and they're going to declare the airport in the "flood way,'" Ellinger said. "It pretty much shuts down for future development on this side of the river, barring getting the levee in.
"And I think that's a real mistake. That's going to cause harm to the community, and a lot of economic development opportunities that we're going to have to foreclose - because once they make that declaration, you can't get flood insurance ... for new construction."
Blunt said he had not heard that concern before.