Plans to park a vintage 1949 diner in downtown Montpelier have been put off permanently because of flood plain regulations.

Jeff Jacobs, owner of Montpelier Property Management, had plans in the works since last fall to move the diner – currently named the Sunset Diner and sitting empty in Jim Thorpe, Pa. – to an empty lot at 66 Main Street between Splash! and Brooks pharmacy in the heart of the capital.

The property is four feet below the floodplain, which means the diner would need to be elevated at least that amount to meet regulations.

"It would have changed the character of the diner and it would have changed the cost dramatically," said Kevin Casey, an employee of Jacobs who was put in charge of the project. "I made the choice last week to kill it."

The guidelines of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Flood Plain Insurance Program require all new buildings to be raised above the base flood elevation. If Jacobs had gone ahead with the project and not raised the diner, he could have put the city at risk of losing federal disaster assistance funds if there was flooding in the future.

He also would have had a hard time getting a tenant to take over the diner without flood insurance, according to Clancy Desmet, Planning and Zoning Administrator for Montpelier. Without being at, or above, floodplain elevation, the structure could not have been able to be insured. The last major flood in downtown Montpelier was in 1992, but city officials routinely keep an eye on the nearby Winooski River every spring out of concern of a repeat occurrence.

"The history of flooding in Montpelier is pretty extensive," said Desmet, adding that with the help of an architect or engineer, a downtown diner was possible. "The project could have happened."

Originally published online here: http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/NEWS02/803280354/1003/NEWS02