Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Santa Rosa commissioners move River Road freeboard variance to Thursday after technical and precedent questions
Summary
After questions about construction errors, insurance discounts and precedent, the Santa Rosa County board moved consideration of a floodplain freeboard variance for a River Road home to Thursday's consent agenda for final action.
The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners on March 10 moved consideration of a floodplain freeboard variance for a single-family home at 7746 River Road in Milton to Thursday's consent agenda after extended technical discussion and questions about precedent and disclosure to future buyers.
The variance request would excuse a newly built home from the county's 3-foot freeboard requirement above the base flood elevation, which in this parcel translates to a 21.0-foot required finished-floor elevation. Building staff and the homeowner told the board the house's finished floor measures roughly 19.93 feet — about 12.12 inches short of the county's standard and above the Florida building-code minimum but below the local requirement.
The case matters, officials said, because the county's freeboard standard helps win Community Rating System (CRS) discounts for local flood insurance and because granting variances may set precedents.
"I personally did not intentionally build this home below the 21 foot free board. This was an honest…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
