El Paso County has added four homes to a list of Ute Pass properties it hopes to buy, just weeks before it plans to finalize the buyouts of another four flood-endangered homes near Cascade.

For nearly two years, the county has tried to secure federal and state funding to finance the purchase of four homes that could be washed away by floodwaters coursing off the Waldo Canyon fire burn scar.

With the final piece of federal funding approved, Brian Olson, the sales and use tax administrator for the county who has been managing the deals, plans to present the buyout plans to the commissioners on June 30, Olson said Monday.

Once the county commissioners have approved the plans, the county can move ahead with purchasing the homes.

If the sales go through, they will be offering relief to some homeowners like Tom and Candy Harris, who have lived in limbo for years, ready at any moment to evacuate their Cascade home sitting in what has become a flooded drainage. The Harris home is one of the four Olson hopes will get approval by the end of the month.

But even as the drawn-out first round of buyouts comes to a close, Olson said that he has plans to begin gathering federal funds to purchase four more homes along Ute Pass. On June 12, the county filed notice of intent applications with the federal government, requesting funds to purchase the homes.

The first round of buyouts will be financed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which covers 75 percent, while the remaining 25 percent will be split between a federal grant and the state. Olson has applied for Flood Mitigation Assistance money, another FEMA program, to finance the buyouts of the second round.