FEMA review may jeopardize flood insurance, buildings
BRADENTON BEACH – The city’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) insurance rate discounts, the ability to obtain flood insurance, and even some buildings may be in jeopardy after FEMA reviews the building department’s post-hurricane procedures, according to City Attorney Ricinda Perry.
“We’ve been flagged,” Perry said at a Feb. 6 city commission meeting.
Perry said she had a call from FEMA and the Florida Divi sion of Emergency Management in which she was asked “why we are letting our city run afoul of all the regulation s that FEMA puts out there in our floodplain requirements.”
“I did have a meeting with FEMA, and whether we like it or not, we have to deal with FEMA and it’s excruciating,” Perry said. “But they came in and they sat down, as they explored the city’s records, they discovered there are substantial problems here that under the prior building official, there were no standard operating procedures. That’s red flag number one. Red flag number two was they could not believe how much of the community was not determined to be substantially damaged.”
Perry said she was told there were major red flags on 76 properties.
“He also said that he drove around and saw way too much construction activity going on without placards, seeing materials and felt that there was no enforcement by the building department on unpermitted work,” she said.
After examining city building department records, FEMA is expected to review about 200 permits that were issued since Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated the city in September and October 2024, and any work that was verbally approved by the former building official will have to be reviewed, she said.
Building Official Darin Cushing was suspended by city commissioners and terminated earlier this month by his employer, M.T. Causley, which contracts with the city for building services.
The city is in the process of replacing him, Perry said.
“What it means, is, anything that we allowed that we should not have allowed, whether it was by mistake of the building official and something that he did in the field, whether it was by errors or omissions by not having an SOP (standard operating procedure), or following it to a ‘t,’ whether it was somebody doing something and we didn’t catch it, FEMA has the right to tell us we have to tear that structure down,” Perry said.
Under the FEMA 50% rule, if 50% or more of the value of a building is damaged by a storm, it must be repaired in compliance with FEMA rules, which may require demolishing a ground-floor building and rebuilding it one story higher.
FLOOD INSURANCE AT RISK
The city could also be removed from the NFIP’s Community Rating System (CRS), which could affect insurance discounts and even the ability of city residents and business owners to obtain flood insurance.
Bradenton Beach is one of approximately 1,500 communities nationwide that participates in the CRS, a voluntary incentive program that recognizes floodplain management practices that exceed the minimum requirements of the NFIP. In communities that comply with CRS policies, flood insurance premiums can be discounted from 5% to 45%.
“What I want to avoid is going through an audit and that is what Lee County went through, and it did not go well for them,” Perry said. “It is something we cannot afford financially. Our staff cannot handle it. We do not have the budget for it, but more importantly, if we fail, our community will lose the ability to have flood insurance.”
Without flood insurance, some residential and commercial property owners with mortgages could be required by their lenders to pay off their mortgages early.
In November 2024, Lee County, Ft. Myers Beach, Estero, Cape Coral and Bonita Springs received FEMA letters following Hurricane Ian notifying those municipalities of potential probation from the NFIP based on the need to correct identified deficiencies or violations in their floodplain management programs.
“As a flood insurance policyholder, you are receiving this letter as an advanced notice that if your community is unable to correct the identified deficiencies or violations, if will be placed on probation from the NFIP,” the FEMA letter to the Lee County municipalities states in part. “As of April 1, 2025, you will lose any discounts you are receiving through the CRS. If your community is placed on probation, it may not rejoin the CRS program for at least two years after being removed from probationary status. Further, if your community does not address identified deficiencies or violations, it will be subject to suspension from the program.”
Bradenton Beach could possibly face similar sanctions.
“FEMA’s review indicates the city of Bradenton Beach’s processes demonstrate potential serious program deficiencies that do not meet substantial damage administration requirements,” according to the FEMA Feb. 1 email.
“Addressing these areas will help ensure the city of Bradenton Beach’s substantial damage and post-disaster permitting process meet the NFIP’s minimum requirements,” the Feb. 1 FEMA email to the city states. “As the city of Bradenton Beach progresses with recovery and permitting efforts, please ensure the permitting documentation reflects the established validation process. This will promote the consistent application of the substantial damage and substantial improvement procedures and facilitate any future reviews of documentation. Rescinding higher standards, or failure to enforce those adopted in your regulations, may reduce community rating systems, policy discounts and result in a CRS class downgrade.”
“The good news is if we take steps to correct it, they’re going to be satisfied and they are not going to come down and destroy our community, which they could, with the ability to get flood insurance,” Perry said.
Cushing told The Sun he was reserving comment at this time.
He posted the following in part on The Sun Facebook page, “I was 100% following FEMA Guidelines, and they are just that, guidelines. I also executed my authority as the Licensed Building Official of Record and Floodplain Manager for the Community. They have no idea what the FEMA guidelines even are. There is something else behind all this, and everyone knows it!”
