Issue - Coastal High Hazard Areas The Coastal High Hazard Areas are areas of special concern to the state, the county, and the citizens. These areas are subject to higher degrees of damage from wind and water during a tropical event. The state requires that the county maintain a balance between property rights and public safety. Issue Statement and Background The Coastal High Hazard Area is currently under going 3 separate updates. Escambia County initiated a review in 2006 to address growth concerns in the coastal areas, Escambia County is currently involved in the state mandated Evaluation and Appraisal Report process that will be adopted in 2008, and Senate Bill requires every community to modify the Coastal Element of the Comprehensive Plan by 2008. The county initiated action will be reviewed through a separate process. There have been significant revisions to the state growth management laws, since the most recent Evaluation and Appraisal Report adoption in 1998. In May 2002, the Florida Legislature amended the Florida Statues, F.S. 163.3191(2)(m) states “If any of the jurisdiction of the local government is located within the coastal high-hazard area, an evaluation of whether any past reduction in land use density impairs the property rights of current residents when redevelopment occurs, including, but not limited to, redevelopment following a natural disaster. The property rights of current residents shall be balanced with public safety considerations. The local government must identify strategies to address redevelopment feasibility and the property rights of affected residents. These strategies may include the authorization of redevelopment up to the actual built density in existence on the property prior to the natural disaster or redevelopment.” Senate Bill 360 was signed into law in 2005, it directs the county to make revisions to its approach to Coastal High Hazard Area planning that balances the needs of the environment, the economy and public safety. “Specific concerns to be reviewed are: (a) increasing restrictions against building health care facilities, such as nursing homes, hospitals, adult living facilities, etc., for the Coastal High Hazard Area to all hurricane evacuation areas; (b) creating provisions for measuring the impact of growth on emergency services such as EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement and 9-1-1 Services and their ability to meet emergency situations; (c) considering a policy to ensure all future county buildings are constructed with proper window protection and substantial enough that they can be used for shelters.” Governor Jeb Bush issued Executive Order 05-178 on September 7, 2005, appointing members to the Coastal High Hazard Study Committee (CHHSC). The Committee was charged with studying and formulating recommendations for managing growth in Coastal High Hazard Areas. In response to recommendations made by the CHHSC, the definition for the Coastal High Hazard Area was changed during the 2006 Legislative Session. The definition went from the Category 1 hurricane evacuation zone to the area within the Category 1 storm surge line. The county adopted floodplain management regulations through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) on Sept 30, 1977. The NFIP requires that the county maintain at least the minimum standards set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations (44 CFR Part 60). Escambia County entered the Community Rating System (CRS) on 10/1/1991. Community Rating System (CRS) was implemented by FEMA as a program for recognizing and encouraging community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP standards. Under the CRS, flood insurance premium discounts reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from community activities that meet the three goals of the CRS: reduce flood losses; facilitate accurate insurance rating; and promote the awareness of flood insurance. Ordinance 2006-04 was adopted on January 10, 2006 which requires that all new or substantially improved building must be elevated an additional 3 feet (freeboard), above the base flood elevation provide on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps. This action was taken as a result of the devastation that was experienced in Hurricane Ivan. The modeling used to establish the coastal base flood elevation was determined, by FEMA, to be outdated and as a result the county adopted a higher standard. The 3’ of freeboard will greatly reduce flood insurance premiums and has increased our CRS standings. The Coastal High Hazard Areas is defined by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), an area of special flood hazard extending from offshore to the inland limit of a primary frontal dune along an open coast and any other area subject to high-velocity wave action from storms or seismic sources. On a Flood Insurance Rate Map, our Coastal High Hazard Area is designated as Zone VE. This zone designates areas subject to inundation by the base flood where wave heights or wave runup depths are greater than or equal to 3.0 feet. The NFIP currently is reviewing a new coastal flood zone, currently referred to as the coastal A zone. FEMA is currently working towards including this new zone into the NFIP’s Coastal High Hazard Areas definition. Issue Analysis Redevelopment following a natural disaster; Redevelopment of properties is reviewed on an individual basis. Redevelopment of the property is predicated upon the local, state, and federal regulations that may apply specifically to each property. An example is the flood insurance program’s repetitive loss list. The list tracks properties that have filed at lease 2 flood insurance claims over an 10-year period, where the combined loss equals 50% of the pre-event home’s value. These properties can be considered for mitigation, which includes elevation of the building, relocation of the home (on the same or another site), or building demolition and land purchase for public open space. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the structures susceptibility to further damage. Authorization of redevelopment up to the actual built density in existence on the property prior to the natural disaster or redevelopment; Perdido Key was down zoned in the last 90’s, but the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Code provides protection for the existing non-conforming buildings. Non-conforming structures (including their density) that are damaged or destroyed by an Act of God, are allowed to rebuild to the density in place prior to the Act of God. Currently, there is no requirement that the site be redeveloped within a specified time frame to in order to maintain the non-conforming density. Increasing restrictions against building health care facilities, such as nursing homes, hospitals, adult living facilities, etc., for the Coastal High Hazard Areas to all hurricane evacuation areas; The Comprehensive Plan currently restricts these uses from being located in the Coastal High Hazard Areas. The Fair Housing Act prohibits certain locational restrictions on these types of facilities. But, as we were made aware following Hurricane Katrina, these types of facilities require greater coordination and specialized procedures during an evacuation. During a hurricane evacuation these facilities can place a higher demand for assistance on the emergency services personnel, hospitals and shelters. In an effort to maintain a balance between Fair Housing and Public Safety, county staff will be reviewing the possibility of placing restrictions on these facilities when located within all hurricane evacuation zones. Possible restrictions being considered include prohibit their placement within all hurricane evacuation zones or requiring the facility to pay for the cost of evacuation and sheltering services before the development approval is granted. Creating provisions for measuring the impact of growth on emergency services such as EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement and 9-1-1 Services and their ability to meet emergency situations; There are currently no Level of Service (LOS) Standards for emergency services. The process for expansion of emergency services is largely a based upon need. The county will make an effort to review and study the best options as to whether or not to incorporate emergency service LOS standards for Escambia County. If created, the LOS standards will be established based upon the infrastructure needed to meet those standards to include but not limited to, equipment, buildings, and staffing for the emergency services. All new development applications would be reviewed to ensure that the LOS would be maintained after the development has been completed. Considering a policy to ensure all future county buildings are constructed with proper window protection and substantial enough that they can be used for shelters; There is not county policy that currently addresses this issue. In the past the county has relied on the use of Public School Facilities for sheltering. These facilities offer larger rooms, such as gymnasiums that generally have little if any window area, with bathroom & shower facilities. The county is not currently looking towards using all County Buildings for public shelters. Escambia County is within a region of the state that is deficient in shelters, thus it falls into an Enhanced Hurricane Protection Area. The means that all new schools building or substantially improved school buildings are required to build at least 50% of the building to structural & operational standards to support hurricane sheltering. The operational standards include office spaces along with backup water and sewer services. In addition to the school shelters, they are providing safe rooms in some new county building, such as Fire Stations, where county personnel will be staged prior to a storm event; in order to provide essential public services quicker following an event. The county is designing new facilities to higher building standards, where possible (example Englewood Community Center which is currently under construction) so that these facilities may be used to house county offices, stage personnel, or be used as distribution sites following an event. Updating the Coastal High Hazard Areas definition in the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code; The state has mandated that the county adopt the new definition by July 1, 2008; this will required a code change in both the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code. The county will have to ensure that the new Coastal High Hazard Area, per state requirements does not create a conflict with the NFIP Coastal High Hazard Area’s definition. In Escambia County there are approximately 19,597.24 acres, comprising of approximately 11,611 properties located in the area defined by the old Coastal High Hazard Areas definition (area shown with the cross line on the attached map). There are approximately 11,812.58 acres, comprising of approximately 3,220 properties located in the area defined by the new Coastal High Hazard Areas definition (area shown in green on the attached map). This change will result in a reduction in Coastal High Hazard Area’s land area of approximately 7,784.66 acres and approximately 8,391 properties. Conclusions and Recommendations There are number of issues that the state has required the county consider for inclusion into the Comprehensive Plan during this next year. Which will be followed up with changes to the Land Development Code. These specific changes include the new Coastal High Hazard Areas definition be adopted by July 8, 2008. During the definition adoption process staff will closely monitor changes being made to the FEMA definition, in order to maintain compliance with both the state and federal requirements. Recommendations 1. That the post disaster redevelopment plan be updated. The plan was adopted on August 4, 1995. Suggested code requirement, that the Post Disaster Redevelopment Plan be re-evaluated within 1 year of all future disasters; but at a minimum the plan should be re-evaluated every 5 years. Mitigation measures should also be considered for inclusion in the plan. 2. The hurricane evacuation plan for Escambia County will need to be re- evaluated in order to meet the new requirements of F.S.163.3178.9. The level of service will need to be modified to be based upon a category 5 storm. It is recommended that during this process shelter impact fees be considered. 3. That staff explore increasing restrictions against building health care facilities, such as nursing homes, hospitals, adult living facilities by prohibiting there placement within all storm surge areas, or adopting sheltering impact fees. 4. That staff explore expanding the Coastal High Hazard Area definition for Escambia County, from the category 1 story surge area (the state’s new definition) to category 5 storm surge area. 5. CPP 11.A.7.8 states new mobile home and recreational vehicle developments within the Coastal High Hazard Areas shall pay fees for off-site sheltering. These fees have not been established. It is recommended that the fees be created and adopted. Evaluation Matrix Please see the Evaluation Matrix excel file.