STONE HARBOR – During its Aug. 2 meeting, Stone Harbor Council discussed the borough’s efforts to maintain its level 5 Community Rating System (CRS) score, which provides a 25% discount on flood insurance premiums for borough property owners.
A drop to a 6 level would mean a decrease in the premium discount to 20%. This is an especially important issue for property owners as they start to cope with Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Rating System 2.0, a change in the way FEMA calculates premiums for the National Flood Insurance Program.
Ten years ago, following the impact of Superstorm Sandy, FEMA pushed Advisory Base Flood Elevation Maps (ABFE) while more permanent maps were developed. Municipalities that accepted the ABFE maps were given points toward their CRS score. Stone Harbor was one of those communities.
The report at council stated that the ABFE points were awarded for a 10 maximum period and would be lost to the borough, as of May 1, 2023. As of now, the borough does not have sufficient points from other sources to compensate for that loss, leading to the probability that Stone Harbor will drop in the rating scale from a 5 to a 6, losing 5% of its insurance premium discount.
The borough has several efforts underway that may result in new CRS points, including the adoption of a stormwater master plan, ordinance amendments mandating higher bulkheads, specific lot grading improvements, and the adoption of a flood plain ordinance.
When asked by Mayor Judith Davies Dunhour if the borough would likely move to a level 6 before being able to climb back to a 5 rating, borough CRS coordinator Kim Stevenson said it was the most likely path.
Borough officials said the borough was in the process of seeking a consultant with the expertise to help with “CRS credits, credit criteria, calculations, procedures, documentation, and other aspects of CRS participation.”
There was no comment on why the borough had not sought such expertise earlier.
