Hart Co. To Get New Aerial Map

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

Hart County is in need of a new aerial topographical map and they will be getting that map free thanks to help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At a recent Hart County Commission meeting, Hart County Administrator Terrell Partain told the board the topographical aerial photo of Hart County has not been updated since 2008.

Partain told the commission that FEMA is using a laser-based aerial photography system called Light Detection and Ranging or LIDAR and they are offering the use of the system to Hart County free of charge.

“We had another meeting with FEMA,” Partain said. “They’re redoing flood plain maps in the Upper Savannah River Valley and we’re a part of that. In that meeting, we found out they will furnish us the LIDAR for that. That’s about $63,000 – $64,000 worth of stuff.”

Partain said the aerial photo of the county needs to be updated for use in a number of county departments.

One of those departments, he said, is the Tax Assessor’s office.

“It’s used by the Tax Assessors. That’s what they do their appraisals by; is updating in LIDAR, slopes and ditches. We use it for a lot of reasons and we can get it for nothing; just a little work on our part on that FEMA map,” Partain said.

After hearing from Partain, Hart County Commissioners voted to sign a letter requesting use of the FEMA LIDAR photography system.