HOLMES BEACH – The city’s hurricane recovery efforts earned praise from FEMA representatives, and property owners will soon be eligible for 25% flood insurance discounts.
Director of Development Services Chad Minor made these announcements during the March 11 city commission meeting. He said as of that day the building department had issued 1,900 building permits since Hurricane Helene struck in late September. The city also conducted 4,344 building permit inspections to date, with Joe Payne Inc. assisting with those efforts.
Minor said permit revenues are only down about $6,600 dollars from last year even though the permit fees have been waived for hurricane-related repairs. Minor said the city’s fee waiver program will remain in effect at least until June 1.
“The building department’s doing an incredible job. There’s a lot of people that still have work to do and the mayor agrees we need to extend the fee waiver program,” Minor said.
He then noted FEMA representatives visited the building department the previous week as part of their post-hurricane auditing process and focused on building permits and the city’s permitting policies and procedures.
Minor said Building Official Neal Schwartz and Building Department Office Manager and Emergency Operations Coordinator Kim Charron did a fantastic job preparing for the FEMA meeting, which he noted can be a daunting task.
“At the end of the meeting, FEMA said, ‘You guys have done everything right,’ ” Minor said.
According to Minor, the FEMA reps said they’d be sharing some of Holmes Beach’s applications and policies with other communities as an example of how to respond and proceed the proper way.
“It was my first experience with FEMA and I was a little nervous going into it, but the way we prepared – our staff, our policies and procedures – made for quite an easy meeting. We had nothing to hide and we received tremendous accolades,” Minor said, which prompted a round of applause from the commissioners and other meeting attendees.
“Don’t forget about the code compliance department as well,” Mayor Judy Titsworth added.
Minor then asked Code Compliance Chief James “JT” Thomas to join Schwartz and Charron at the podium with him.
Schwartz said FEMA was impressed with the code compliance department’s efforts and the many violation notices and stop work orders they issued while tracking the repair work to ensure that it was done in compliance with city, state and federal regulations.
Schwartz said the building department is still assisting homeowners and property owners with their permitting processes.
“Come on into city hall and talk to us,” he said. “We’re here for you.”
Flood insurance discounts
Minor then addressed the city’s Community Rating Service (CRS) rating that provides flood insurance discounts to any Holmes Beach property owner who carries a flood insurance policy issued through, or in conjunction with, FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program.
Minor announced that on Oct. 1, the city’s current class 6 CRS rating that provides a 20% flood insurance discount is improving to a class 5 CRS rating that provides a 25% discount. This prompted another round of applause.
“The city has acquired enough points to be classified as a class 4 but we have to meet a prerequisite of a watershed master plan. We are underway on that. Once that is complete, we will submit for reclassification, which, if approved, will result in class 4 (rating) and a 30% discount,” Minor said of the additional CRS rating improvement to be sought next year.
Minor thanked all the city staff members, including the public works department, who helped prepare the reports that led to the improved CRS rating.
“It shows the hard work pays off. This is a huge one for the city and it really should be celebrated,” Minor said, prompting a third round of applause.
“You guys did great,” Titsworth said.
Commissioner Carol Soustek expressed her appreciation for the staff efforts that will provide additional flood insurance discounts to Holmes Beach property owners and Commissioner Dan Diggins said, “Thank you guys. This is wonderful news.”
