Updated Monday, Oct. 28, 2024
BRADENTON BEACH – City Building Official Darin Cushing addressed condemnation questions and outlined the next steps for homeowners at the Pines Trailer Park and many at the Sandpiper Resort Co-Op who received letters assessing their mobile homes with substantial damage due to hurricane-related flooding.
“People are throwing the word condemned around, but no trailers have been condemned, yet,” Cushing wrote in an Oct. 25 email to The Sun. “There are a few in the Pines that are pretty wrecked, so we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“We’re doing this part first but then we’re going to be looking at the ones that are going to be condemned completely, those where the walls are gone,” he told The Sun.
At an Oct. 17 city commission meeting, Cushing outlined FEMA guidelines and city ordinances about hurricane-related flooding of mobile homes.
On Oct. 24, letters went out to unit owners at the Pines and owners of affected units at Sandpiper Resort Co-Op stating his initial assessment indicated that their homes may meet substantial damage guidelines.
“It just happens that in the Pines, that was every unit, as they all took on some level of water inside,” he wrote. “In Sandpiper, there are some units that do not indicate this, as they are elevated above the level of the floodwaters that were incurred citywide.”
The Oct. 24 letter reads in part: “As a result of a ‘substantial damage’ assessment, the City of Bradenton Beach believes that your structure lies below the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) and may have received damages exceeding 50% of the pre-damage structure value as a result of the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton that struck Anna Maria Island on Sept. 25 and Oct. 9, 2024. This assessment is being made for all structures within the city, as the entire city lies below the required Base Flood Elevation (BFE). The assessment was based upon a ‘windshield survey,’ an assessment of the extent of visible and determined flooding. It is not however absolute, as the city did not assess the extent of damage inside of the structures identified.”
The letter continues: “The City of Bradenton Beach participates in the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and has adopted a floodplain ordinance through which it regulates new development, maintenance and improvement of existing structures, and instances of catastrophic impacts such as these two consecutive hurricanes. After destructive, flooding events such as Hurricane Helene, the City is required to initiate a “Substantial Damage” assessment of impacted structures. In this context, the term substantial damage means, “damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure would equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.”
Cushing said he will be conducting in-person substantial damage assessments of the mobile homes.
“This is standard operating procedure for floodplain management. Similar letters will also be going to any and all building owners in the city where the initial assessment indicates that there may be substantial damage to their building,” Cushing wrote in his email. “The next step will be a more detailed assessment, where dollar values of damages will be compared to the replacement cost of the unit.
Cushing said the difficulty in assessing the value of mobile homes is that the county property appraiser does not assess the value of mobile homes.
“Owners, if they wish to contest our initial assessment, will be afforded the opportunity to have the more detailed assessment done, but they will have to have a private appraisal done, by a licensed appraiser,” Cushing wrote.
Permits are required for all repair, maintenance, and/or redevelopment of damaged structures. Failure to comply with permit requirements may result in fines through the City’s Code Compliance Department, Cushing advised in his letter to homeowners.
“A precise determination of the extent of damage is essential through the city’s permit processes and a substantial damage determination package can be provided,” his letter stated.
