SICTA: FEMA-related

Last modified: 02/05/2019 08:01:42 PM

FEMA-Related Topics

Summary of changes effective April 1 2015:
--$25 surcharge for single-family primary residences, $250 surcharge for most other buildings.
--For multiple unit condos, the new Federal Policy fee per policy is: 1 unit: $45, 2-4 units: $135, 5-10 units: $360, 11-20 units: $720, 21 or more: $1,800.

April 1 2015 changes fact sheet

Impact of changes to the NFIP under Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014

FEMA's flood insurance reform main page -- a good place to visit if you need gory details

Neat little FEMA tool to easily check your Base Flood Elevation! FEMA Region II BFE Address Lookup Tool

6/19/15 (New York Times) Science Panel Tries to Reinject Reality into Flood Insurance Pricing

The below is an archive detailing the process that resulted in the changes above!

Executive summary

Potentially Dramatic Changes in Flood Insurance Rates Are Likely Imminent. For many of you this may be old news, but new legislation and FEMA changes are likely to have a profound effect on our flood insurance rates in Sea Isle City in the coming years. As the Press of Atlantic City reported “The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, which was passed early last summer, phases out flood insurance subsidies from the nationally run flood insurance program, increases insurance premiums on properties between 10 percent and 25 percent per year until reaching their actuarial cost, raises the annual cap on premium rates, requires minimum deductibles for flood insurance and requires more stringent requirements for obtaining flood insurance.”

This legislation coupled with normal rate increases, new elevation standards and new advisory flood maps from FEMA, and new building standards from the state could lead to some Sea Isle property owners’ rates increasing by up to four to eight times current levels over time. Mayor Desiderio and local legislators are working hard on our behalf to stem the increases. But, ultimately Congress needs to act. We therefore hope that all those impacted in Sea Isle will take the time to write Congressman LoBiondo and our U.S. Senators to make your opinions known. There is still time, but you should act soon to make your voice heard. We have included several links that give you more details on what is unfolding, including current and advisory flood maps, as well as sample letters that you can use to assist you in your letter-writing.

Detailed analysis

The above conclusions were summarized from our three page analysis -- details here.

Congressional contact info

Handy site for looking up contact info for members of Congress [Address info for our three NJ Congressmen is already included in the sample letters below.]

Sample letters

The Honorable Representative Frank LoBiondo	MS Word format	Adobe PDF format (for copying and pasting)
The Honorable Senator Frank Lautenberg	MS Word format	Adobe PDF format (for copying and pasting)
The Honorable Senator Robert Menendez	MS Word format	Adobe PDF format (for copying and pasting)
Generic letter for non-NJ Congressperson	MS Word format	Adobe PDF format (for copying and pasting)

2013 FEMA flood insurance rates

Advisory Base Flood Elevation Maps

Neat little FEMA tool to easily check your Base Flood Elevation! FEMA Region II BFE Address Lookup Tool

ABFE Map [The map is a little tricky to use -- the key is to use the zoom control in the upper left and click one notch at time (zoom-in is up) until the flood elevation overlay appears.]

For your convenience, we have taken some snapshots in case you don't feel like exploring the map above. You can contrast them with the current maps (they don't match up exactly).

ABFE	Current
North Side	North border to 24th St.
29th to 53rd Sts.	24th to 37th St.
54th to 65th Sts.	38th to 56th St.
66th to 78th Sts.	56th to 76th Sts.
79th to 92nd Sts.	77th to 93rd Sts.
Extreme South Side