Proposals seek to lower flood insurance costs

Sept. 24--City officials are seeking ways to shore up lower flood insurance costs while also better preparing for a disaster.

On Wednesday, the city's Planning Commission got a preview of a staff proposal to update building codes and install a new certification system for existing building codes as part of its flood hazard prevention management.

The idea is to safeguard life and manage flood zones. It's also intended to put the city and residents in a better financial position in case of a flooding event, by putting higher building standards into place. If staff recommendations are approved, they would provide residents with further discounts on flood insurance, and also increase federal assistance if there were a disaster, said Julio Dimas, assistant director of the city's Development Services division.

The city participates in a voluntary Federal Emergency Management Agency program called the Community Rating System. Depending on the city's ratings, the program offers a sliding scale of insurance discounts for residents with flood insurance. On a one to 10 scale -- one being the best -- Corpus Christi is at a seven, Dimas said. The city has been at a seven rating for three years, and is seeking a six rating, he said.

A seven rating means that residents living in a flood zone with federally-backed insurance receive a 15 percent discount. A six rating would see a 20 percent discount, Dimas said. A better rating would also see an increased discount for residents who carry flood insurance but do not live in a flood zone. Those residents are currently seeing a 5 percent discount because of the city's participation in the Community Rating System, he said. How much of a discount they would receive with a six rating was not immediately available Wednesday night.

The proposed higher building standards would apply to only new development, Dimas said.

Among other recommendations, the proposed 2015 building codes would require properties in flood zones to build a foot above the minimal elevations required in the 2009 building code, which is currently in place. Adopting that amendment would mean that affected property owners could get an insurance discount because their development was built higher, but would also attribute to a positive rating for the city, which would provide an additional discount, Dimas said.

The city also will consider whether to expand building restrictions into areas further behind the beachfront, Dimas said. Newer FEMA maps may indicate that some inland areas would experience wave damage, although less severe than that on the beach front in a flooding event.

Other suggestions would involve builders providing additional certification for new developments showing compliance with select, in-place codes, state city documents.

Officials could ultimately adopt all of the recommendations or a select few. All the recommendations would benefit the city's rating, Dimas said.

It's expected that some of the proposals could increase the upfront costs on new development, but officials anticipate that residents would recoup that money within a few years because of insurance discounts, Dimas said.

Preliminary flood maps for Corpus Christi are expected to be issued by FEMA as early as late October, he added.

Without reviewing the new maps, it's hard to say what the overall impact will be to the community, including the effect on existing development and development patterns, said Planning Commission chairman Philip Ramirez after the meeting.

"We're going to watch very closely the outcome of the final FEMA maps," he said.

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