Saying the communities have made progress over the last few months, the federal government has agreed to allow 10's of thousands of federal flood insurance policy holders in Lee County continue to get steep discounts on insurance premiums — at least for the time being.
All that could change come November.
Friday, leaders in unincorporated Lee, Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs and Estero were notified they were being put on probation and have the next 121 days to correct any deficiencies, WGCU has learned.
In statement to WGCU Friday evening FEMA said this: "We’ve made progress with each of the five communities over the past two months. To ensure each community has the support they need to be compliant with the National Flood Insurance Program, we will begin a probation process for each community. During this time, each community has 121 days to correct any remaining deficiencies.
"Also, policy holders will be able to maintain their regular flood insurance policies at a discounted rate. Our goal during the next few months is to continue meeting with each community and making progress to ensure standards of the program are being met so they are more resilient to future disasters."
Policy holders on Sanibel Island and Fort Myers are not in danger of losing the discounts.
In April, officials in the other municipalities, including unincorporated Lee County, were told they were losing their good standing with the National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System. This good standing allowed for more than $25 million in discounts on annual flood policies.
A second year of bad marks, community leaders were told several months ago, could throw the municipalities — and the policy holders within those municipalities — out of the federal program all together.
But after major backlash, FEMA agreed to give the community leaders more time to prove they are taking all the necessary steps to follow federal guideline and mitigate future flooding. That deadline passed in June.
FEMA official notified the municipalities of its decisions on Friday.
The discounts are meant to incentivize prudent monitoring of development especially in coastal flood zones as the communities build back after Hurricane Ian.
The National Flood Insurance Program was created in the late 1960s. More than 1.7 million Floridians have the government-backed insurance. Municipalities that participate in the Community Rating System are ranked on a scale of 1 to 10.
Unincorporated Lee, Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral and Bonita Springs all have a 5 rating. That means federal flood insurance policy holders are given 25 percent discounts on their annual flood insurance premiums. They will keep this rating now at least through November. Estero's rating allows for a 20 percent discount in flood premiums. It too will keep it's rating for now.
"Staff is working with FEMA to completely understand their decision," Dan Allers the mayor of Fort Myers Beach said in a text to WGCU.
Other leaders expressed hope for the future:
“We believe this is a positive step toward keeping the [Community Rating System] rating for our unincorporated Lee County residents while we continue to remediate outstanding issues with FEMA. Essentially the notification today provides the county an extension to further clarify our processes and preserve the CRS rating in the future,” said Lee County Manager Dave Harner.
Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter had this to say: "We are grateful that FEMA has acknowledged our ongoing efforts and commitment to floodplain management regulations. In the end, FEMA has proven they may not be a villain."
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