Hearing scheduled on Dec. 18 at downtown Sarasota County Administration Center
On Dec. 18, the Sarasota County Commission is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on a proposed amendment to a county ordinance that would allow more options for breakaway walls in flood-prone areas of the county.
The modification has been proposed by members of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, a county staff memo said, but the change ultimately could result in a smaller discount for county residents who participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.
That discount is 25%, the memo added, but staff has been working to try to increase it to 40%.
The hearing will be held at the County Administration Center that stands at 1660 Ringling Blvd. in downtown Sarasota. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. As of the deadline for this issue of The Sarasota News Leader, the agenda for that session was not available.
The hearing will come after county residents dealt with the effects of three storms during the 2024 hurricane season. In fact, during a Nov. 19 public hearing on a Siesta Key property owner’s application for a Coastal Setback Variance for construction of a new home adjacent to Beach Access 10, one speaker talked about the storm surges that flooded homes and businesses on the island during Hurricane Helene in late September and Hurricane Milton in early October. The speaker stressed that breakaway wall debris was pushed well inland from homes along the beach.
As part of a September 2013 discussion of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a county staff member reminded the commissioners seated at that time that the county had been a participant in the federal flood insurance rating initiative — the Community Rating System (CRS) program — since 1992. Desiree Companion explained that the CRS program is similar to one for fire insurance, with homeowners eligible for discounts because of the best practices pursued in the county since it became part of the CRS. Among those measures are protecting new buildings beyond minimum NFIP levels; preserving and/or restoring natural functions of floodplains; and helping people obtain flood insurance, Companion added.
In fact, Companion said that day, Sarasota County “was part of an elite group” of only 20,000 communities that voluntarily joined the NFIP in 1971.
As a result, she pointed out, homeowners in the county received $7.1 million in discounts that year. Moreover, she noted, for every dollar they spent on flood insurance, statistics showed they saved $4.
During the County Commission’s regular meeting on Oct. 22 —conducted at the R.L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice — the members voted unanimously to advertise the December hearing on the amendment regarding breakaway walls. The decision came as they approved their Consent Agenda of routine business matters that morning.
A staff memo in the Oct. 22 agenda packet explained that, on Dec. 12, 2023, the commissioners amended the Flood Damage Prevention chapter of the County Code (Chapter 54, Article XVI), “relating to compliance with minimum National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) requirements, coordination with the Florida Building Code (FBC), and the adoption of the Flood Insurance Study (FIS) and the FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS) that took effect March 27, 2024.”
The memo then pointed out, “As part of the public outreach process, staff presented draft amendments to stakeholder groups including the Development Services Advisory [Committee] (DSAC). [The DSAC is a county organization.] Members of DSAC had a particular interest in making additional amendments to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance to address breakaway walls,” the Oct. 22 staff memo continued.
“Breakaway walls are non-structural walls that are designed and constructed to collapse during a storm surge without damaging the foundation or any other structural elements of a coastal building,” the memo explained.
Responding to a DSCA request, the memo said, staff met with representatives of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), who requested the removal of “breakaway wall area restrictions” so the walls “could fully enclose the area below the lowest horizontal structural member supporting the Lowest Floor [of a building] in V, VE and V1-30 flood zones.”
“Currently,” the memo noted, “Code allows for no greater than 299 [square feet] of breakaway wall enclosure …”
FEMA says the VE and V1-30 zones are those in coastal areas “with a 1% or greater chance of flooding and an additional hazard associated with storm waves. These areas have a 26% chance of flooding over the life of a 30‐year mortgage. Base flood elevations derived from detailed analyses are shown at selected intervals within these zones.”
Flood zone V, which also is in coastal areas, has a 1% or greater chance of flooding and an additional hazard associated with storm waves, as well, FEMA notes, along with a 26% chance of flooding over the life of a 30‐year mortgage. However, the agency adds, “No base flood elevations are shown within these zones.”
Section 54-516(4) of the County Code says the following:
The local AIA chapter’s proposal has been captured in a proposed amendment to the County Code as follows, the Oct. 22 staff memo added:
“All walls below the lowest horizontal structural member supporting the Lowest Floor must be Breakaway Walls. Breakaway Walls are walls that are not required for structural support to a Building or other Structure, and are designed and constructed such that, under Base Flood or lessor condition, they will collapse in such a way that: (1) it allows the free passage of floodwaters, and (2) it does not damage the Structure or supporting foundation system.”
That language still would comply with the minimum Florida Building Code requirements, the memo pointed out.
However, the memo explained, that change would affect the flood insurance discounts that county residents receive.
Effects on the flood insurance expense for county residents
The current regulation that allows no more than 299 square feet of enclosure exceeds the Florida Building Code standards “as part of the County’s efforts to enhance floodplain protections through the NFIP’s Community Rating System (CRS),” the memo continued. “Under the CRS, the flood insurance premiums for residents and businesses are discounted to reflect the community’s work to reduce flood damage,” the memo added.
“Sarasota County residents retain the ability to purchase flood insurance through the NFIP” in accord with the county’s “meeting minimum participation requirements including, but not limited to, adopting certain local regulations,” the memo pointed out. “Flood insurance discounts for buildings in FEMA flood hazard areas are based on the community CRS rating, with Class 1 being the best possible rating and Class 10 being the lowest,” the memo noted. “Each numerical increment higher than a Class 10 represents a 5% discount on flood insurance. Sarasota County is presently a Class 5 community which results in a 25% discount.”
Then the memo explained, “The County is actively making strides to achieve … up to a CRS Class 2 rating,” for which more than 4,000 points are needed …” (The memo noted that 500 points separates each class level.)
“To meet this goal,” the memo continued, “the County is striving to complete the required Class 4 [prerequisites] (which apply to Class 4, 3 & 2) by the end of the 2024 calendar year. The latest audit by
FEMA’s CRS management contractor,” Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO), “found the County has achieved 4,112 CRS points,” the memo added; that allows the county “to apply for the Class 2 designation once the prerequisites are met,” the memo said. “This would provide residents a 40% discount on flood insurance premiums,” which would save county residents more than $10 million in annual flood insurance premiums, the memo pointed out.
If the County Code were modified in accord with the local AIA proposal, the memo said, 80 CRS points would be removed from those awarded for the current Code requirements. That action also would “reduce the small Class 2 points buffer from 112 to 32 points,” the memo noted.
“A strong buffer is needed to aid in any potential loss of CRS points as the guidelines are regularly changing and points are not guaranteed,” the memo said. Thus, the amendment could result in a lower, Class 3, rating, with a projected, total flood insurance discount of $9.7 million for county residents, the memo continued. That would be $700,000 less that the anticipated $10.4-million Class 2 discount, the memo added. “Conversely,” the memo continued, if the Code were revised “to completely prohibit enclosures, including breakaway walls below the base flood elevation, the full credit of 240 points could be given.”
The memo then pointed out, “Sarasota County and nine other communities out of 468 NFIP communities in Florida have not utilized the State’s model flood ordinance,” opting instead to adopt their own ordinances that the state and FEMA have deemed to meet “at least the minimum [Florida Building Code] design and construction requirements.”
The memo did note that amendments to the ordinances “require approval by the State NFIP Coordinator’s Office.”
Following the County Commission’s authorization of the Dec. 18 public hearing, the memo said that staff would forward the proposed breakaway walls amendment to the Florida Division of Emergency Management’s Office of Floodplain Management for review and verification that it would meet the National Flood Insurance Program requirements.