SHAMOKIN - All seven settlement offers from the city to property owners whose homes were destroyed by flooding in 2011 have been accepted.

Steve Bartos, city clerk, said the final signature was acquired this week. The next step is to submit project paperwork to Federal Emergency Management Agency seeking the release of funding for closing costs to purchase the homes.

Once closing is finished, another request will be made for demolition funding. The city has 60 days after the properties are officially acquired to knock them down. Bartos said he expects demolition to begin in May.

A total of $203,120 from FEMA's Hazardous Mitigation Grant Program had been sought to acquire and demolish a row of homes from 10-16 S. Rock St. as well as 44 and 48 S. Rock St. and 606 N. Third St. All were condemned by the city after the Flood of 2011.

The grant program prohibits the land where the homes now stand from ever being developed; vegetation is all that's allowed.

While the owners had been given until March 1 to accept the FEMA-authorized settlement offers and continue with the voluntary demolition project, some leeway was allowed.