St. Augustine planning board begins work to curb fill, strengthen flood-resilience rules

City planning staff and the Planning and Zoning Board on Feb. 19 began drafting interim rules aimed at reducing the use of fill and tightening flood‑resilience requirements for new construction and major renovations in St. Augustine.

The discussion, led by Amy Skinner, director of the Planning and Building Department, and city technical staff, centered on whether the city should prohibit or limit placement of fill in the Special Flood Hazard Area, raise freeboard requirements and adopt a two‑track review system that allows routine projects to gain administrative approval if they meet “do no harm” standards while sending atypical proposals to public hearing.

The issue matters because staff say substantial amounts of imported soil and high finished‑floor elevations on small urban lots can reduce local flood storage and shift flood risk to adjacent properties. "We have to address the issue of fill in the city if we are going to discuss fill, if we're going to regulate fill in any way," Amy Skinner said, noting state and federal review will affect what the city can adopt.

Why this matters

City officials described multiple drivers for new rules: recurring compound flooding in low‑lying neighborhoods, the potential for state preemption of fill rules, and opportunities to gain discounts on flood insurance through the Community Rating System (CRS). "We're dealing with a lot of compound flooding," Jessica Beach, the city's chief resilience officer, said after returning from a regional resilience meeting. Staff highlighted North and South Davis Shores as neighborhoods with concentrated property entries into the FEMA Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) pipeline.

Key points from the meeting

- FEMA, state and local programs: Staff reviewed federal and state programs that affect local policy. Buddy…