FEMA relents: Lee County homeowners to keep National Flood Insurance Program discount

After months of worry that Lee County and most municipalities contained within its borders within had lost their flood insurance discount after their floodplain management ratings were adjusted downward, homeowners can breathe a sign of relief: the Federal Emergency Management Agency has relented.

The loss of the 25% discount for the National Flood Insurance Program has been restored to Lee homeowners as the government agency opens a pathway for Lee County and several municipalities to improve floodplain management, among other issues.

As previously reported in The News-Press / Naples Daily News, the Class Rating System is a voluntary federal program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities exceeding the minimum National Flood Insurance Plan standards by providing incentive premium discounts. The discounts are given in 5% increments using a 1-10 rating system, with Class 10 being the lowest and Class 1 the highest.

Every three years the National Flood Insurance Program conducts a field visit to audit floodplain management activities and flood-mapping records. After each audit, the municipality governments receive a rating from the Class Rating System program.

FEMA lowered ratings saying cities, county had unpermitted work

The battle between local governments and FEMA began in March, when FEMA announced that the class ratings for Lee County, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers Beach and Cape Coral had been revised downward from a Class 5 to a Class 10, resulting in a loss of the 25% discount previously enjoyed. Estero had previously been rated at a Class 6, which entitled residents to up to a 20% discount on their flood insurance.

The government agency cited "the large amount of unpermitted work, lack of documentation, and failure to properly monitor activity in special flood hazard areas, including substantial damage compliance" as the reasons behind the class rating drop.

Only Sanibel and the city of Fort Myers were exempt from the ratings downgrade. They maintained their Class 5 statuses and subsequent discounts.

New plan due in November addressing 'continuing issues'

But on July 19, FEMA notified Lee County, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers Beach that area residents with policies issued under the National Flood Insurance Program will maintain the discount rate of 25% while the cities, towns, county and FEMA continue to work on a plan to address continuing issues. That plan will be due Nov. 18.

This essentially gives an extension to the county and its municipalities as they attempt to preserve their ratings.

Friday, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) posted on the social media platform X (previously known as Twitter) that he had received word that FEMA would allow the continuation of flood insurance discounts in Lee County as it continues working to improve floodplain management.

"I won’t stop working with our local communities and FEMA to ensure these flood insurance discounts remain in place long-term and that the federal government is a partner with local governments as we continue to recover from hurricanes," he wrote.

FEMA referred to the plan as "probation" in an email to The News-Press / Naples Daily News.

"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," an agency representative wrote. "During this time, each community has 121 days to correct any remaining deficiencies.

"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."

Local officials happy with restoration of insurance rating

Local leaders cheered FEMA's decision.

“We believe this is a positive step toward keeping the CRS rating for our unincorporated Lee County residents while we continue to remediate outstanding issues with FEMA,” Lee County manager Dave Harner said in a press release Friday.

For 17 years, Lee County has enjoyed a National Flood Insurance Program rating of Class 5, which gives resident policyholders a 25% discount. This saved Lee County residents roughly $17 million annually, a county press release estimated in March.

"We are pleased with FEMA's decision as it aligns with the city's goal of helping keep policy premiums as low as possible," said Cape Coral's mayor, John Gunter. "This ensures our residents and their homes are properly protected. Their safety and well-being remain our top priority, and this decision is a significant step to achieving that."

While Fort Myers Beach town Manager Andy Hyatt defended his staff's initial work and communications with FEMA in a statement, he added that "we do look forward to working with FEMA to address any outstanding issues as they continue to explore the future of the Community Rating System and focus on ways that they can improve."

In a press release, the village of Estero noted that it had already undertaken several steps to earn back its Class 6 rating, including purchasing roughly $41 million in local funds on land purchases, including Estero on the River, River Oaks Preserve and a 72-acre parcel on Three Oaks Parkway. In addition, the Village acquired two railroad drainage easements from Seminole Gulf Railroad to reduce flooding in the Special Flood Hazard Area.

Estero's "proactive floodplain management plan also includes an initiative to convert areas with septic tanks and package wastewater treatment plants to central municipal sewer systems," which leaders believe will mitigate future health and safety concerns by stemming flooding of septic tanks.

Initially, FEMA defended its decision, saying that over the year and a half since Hurricane Ian, its representatives conducted site visits across Lee County looking at how locally adopted floodplain management ordinances were being enforced, and found it lacking.

However, after county commissioners pressed the issue, the agency agreed to give the county and Southwest Florida municipalities an opportunity to resubmit documentation proving that they deserved to maintain their Class ratings.

About 699,000 residents live in areas that will be impacted by the FEMA decision – the city of Bonita Springs, city of Cape Coral, Village of Estero, Town of Fort Myers Beach and unincorporated Lee County.

There are 51,103 National Flood Insurance Program policies in force in unincorporated Lee County, which has a population of about 388,000.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: FEMA relents: Lee County homeowners to keep National Flood Insurance Program discount