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City officials outline steps to improve flood-insurance rating; watershed master plan and grant identified as next steps
Summary
City building official said St. Augustine is a CRS class 5 (25% flood-insurance discount) and described prerequisites and a state grant opportunity that could help the city reach class 4 (30% discount). A reverification visit by the CRS coordinator was scheduled for the following day.
City building official and floodplain coordinator Buddy Shean briefed the commission May 6 on the Community Rating System (CRS), a FEMA-administered program that reduces National Flood Insurance Program premiums for communities that exceed minimum floodplain-management standards.
Shean said St. Augustine currently holds a CRS Class 5 rating, which yields a 25% discount on flood insurance premiums. Moving to Class 4 would raise that discount to 30%; to qualify the city must meet technical prerequisites including minimum scores on the Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS), a watershed master plan, and additional points in the floodplain-management planning category.
Shean described several elements the city must complete to earn the extra points: sustain or improve BCEGS scores (the city reported a 4 for 1–2 family residential and a 3 for commercial/industrial measures in a recent evaluation), adopt and implement a floodplain-management plan with public outreach and vulnerability assessment elements, and complete a watershed master plan demonstrating runoff and mitigation recommendations. He said the state has offered a funding mechanism—using HMGP funds and state administration—to underwrite watershed master plans, with grants of up to $300,000 available to communities; those grant rounds typically open with a short application window.
Shean said the city has been able to collect points for outreach and existing measures, but that additional work is needed in vulnerability assessment and watershed planning. He told commissioners a CRS reverification visit was scheduled for the following day and that staff hoped to press forward on grant applications and coordination with the St. Johns River Water Management District and regional partners.
Commissioners expressed support for pursuing the watershed plan and the potential grant. Staff and commissioners noted that existing vulnerability-assessment work and ongoing coordination with district and county studies could be leveraged to reduce cost and duplication.
Shean said any CRS redesign by the federal contractor Tetra Tech could change scoring but that historic trends showed points lost in some areas and gains in others when FEMA updates the coordinator manual. Staff recommended pursuing grant opportunities and refining the local mitigation strategy (LMS) to meet CRS prerequisites.
