CRANBERRY TWP — Eight property owners are appealing new preliminary flood plain maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Those maps, last issued in 1982, are for flood insurance and show which homes are in the 100-year and 500-year flood zones.

FEMA started the major undertaking of overhauling the maps in 2010, using data collected several years earlier by aerial technology. The new technology allowed for much more accurate findings in regards to property boundaries and which homes fit into the revised flood plain.

Tim Schutzman, the waterworks coordinator for Cranberry Township, briefed the township supervisors last week and told them about the eight homeowners appealing FEMA’s new maps. Schutzman told the supervisors that the new flood plain maps are not only more accurate, but shrink the boundaries of the flood plain in the township, thereby reducing the number of homeowners in Cranberry who are in the flood plain.

“The new maps limit the impact for a lot of homeowners,” he said. “We had 252 homes impacted by the current flood boundary. With these new preliminary maps, we only have 70.”

However, there are varying levels of being within a flood plain, levels that correspond to higher insurance premiums for homeowners. Those residents appealing the maps are challenging their status within the flood plain.

Residents can appeal any part of the process.

“The new maps have really been a positive for a lot of homeowners stuck paying flood insurance,” he said.

The residents who appealed the maps likely won’t hear back for several months from FEMA.

Schutzman added that FEMA in September will release a “letter of final determination,” which means the preliminary maps will become final within six months of the letter.

Cranberry officials will have a public hearing on March 26 to discuss the new flood plain maps with residents.