SEA ISLE CITY – Sea Isle City was the first municipality in Cape May County to achieve a prestigious level 3 status in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Community Rating System (CRS) program.
That status provided a 35% discount to city property owners in National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies. It also meant that the city had taken several actions that went well beyond NFIP minimum standards for protection of lives and property from flooding.
The CRS program awards points for floodplain management and flood damage prevention actions with various point levels equating to a status level in the program and an associated flood insurance policy premium discount.
Following Superstorm Sandy, FEMA awarded points to municipalities that quickly adopted Advisory Base Flood Elevation Maps. Those points had a 10-year lifespan and expired in April of this year. The loss of those points caused several communities across the nation to drop in their CRS status levels, including Sea Isle City.
At the City Council meeting May 24, Mayor Leonard Desiderio spoke in advance of the council’s introduction of a new flood damage protection ordinance, saying, “I’m happy to announce that we have been informed by our contacts at the Insurance Services Office, who work on behalf of FEMA, that with the adoption of this ordinance, we will maintain our Class 3 status.”
As of April 1, Sea Isle’s CRS standing dropped to a level 4 due to the loss of the Sandy points, which also meant a loss in the flood insurance discount from 35% to 30%.
Desiderio’s announcement means that an independent review of the points gained through the introduction of a stricter flood damage prevention ordinance concluded they will be sufficient to regain the level 3 status by October. The only other level 3 community in Cape May County is Avalon.
The new ordinance must still be formally adopted. It will come up for a public hearing at the June 13 council meeting.
