Naples Flood Zone Dilemma - What's A Home Owner To Do?

Seems Collier County officials and the Collier County Planning Commission (CCPC) did not think through the unintended consequences of a compromise made with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials back in 2005 regarding the adoption of proposed new digital flood zone maps.

Under the new changes to the floodplain ordinance, approximately 50,000 home and businesses could be required to carry more flood insurance or face having to obtain a exemption from FEMA. The net effect would be turning most of Collier County into a special flood hazard zone requiring mandatory flood insurance which would drive up costs substantially.

Most affected would be the Golden Gate Estates and Immokalee areas of the county which would be designated as prone to flooding of three feet or less from rainfall, not coastal surge. Since all of the homes and businesses in these areas are not built to the same elevation, each individual would have to apply for a Letter of Map Change in order to determine if they are high enough to be exempted from the proposed flood insurance requirements.

Accordingly, Collier officials have sent the proposed floodplain ordinance back for more work. Unfortunately, property owners have been advised that they won't know the actual location of the flood zone lines until the new digital maps are submitted to the county in January 2010. That will leave them only 4 months in which to appeal their disagreement with the digital maps by providing scientifically backed elevation studies that "may" exempt them from the new flood zone designation.

Collier officials suggested they may not want to wait until next year and start their review process sooner rather than later. Our guess is that sounds like pretty good advice.