Flood Insurance Premiums Can Go Up After April 1
A bulletin released by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) outlines changes in flood insurance rates after April 1, 2015, that are allowable under a law passed last year.
Palm Coast, FL – March 5, 2015 – A bulletin released by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) outlines changes in flood insurance rates after April 1, 2015, that are allowable under a law passed last year – the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA) that changed some details of the Biggert-Waters Act.
Both HFIAA and Biggert-Waters are complex documents, and it's important to note that it's difficult to know from general information how much a specific homeowner's flood insurance policy could change.
For more information on categories of homeowners and how they might be affected, download the complete NFIP bulletin posted online.
Key changes
- An individual's rate premium cannot increase more than 18 percent; an "average rate class" of homeowners cannot have their premiums increase more than 15 percent.
- Certain subsidized policyholders (those not currently paying the full actuarial rate) have mandatory rate increases.
- Policies will have a new annual surcharge required under HFIAA.
- New guidance will impact "substantially damaged and substantially improved structures," and there is additional rating guidance on Pre-Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) structures.
- There will be a new procedure for Properties Newly Mapped into the Special Flood Hazard Area and existing Preferred Risk Policy Eligibility Extension (PRP EE) policies.
The changes take effect April 1 for both new business and renewals.
According to the bulletin, the 18 percent cap on flood insurance increases has a few exceptions that include, but are not limited to, misratings and increases in the amount of insurance coverage.
Another exception: Premiums on subsidized policies will increase 25 percent for policies on non-primary residences, Severe Repetitive Loss properties, and substantially-damaged/substantially-improved properties.
A 25 percent premium increase on business properties will be implemented in 2016.
New surcharge
HFIAA also introduces a new mandatory surcharge on all new and renewed policies – $25 for primary residences and $250 for all other policies.
The surcharge and a Federal Policy Fee (FPF) aren't considered premiums, so they're not considered in the maximum 18 percent increase for any specific homeowners. As a result, the total amount charged a policyholder could exceed 18 percent in some cases.
Premiums – including the Reserve Fund Assessment but excluding the FPF and the new HFIAA- mandated surcharge – will increase an average of 9.9 percent for policies written or renewed on or after April 1, 2015.
When the FPF and the new HFIAA-mandated surcharge are included, the total amount charged to a policyholder could increase a maximum of 19.8 percent.
© 2015 Florida Realtors® All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
‘ The Palm Coast Project ‘
For Newer Palm Coasters –
‘ …Palm Coast has been designed to withstand what is termed ‘the 100 year Flood’.
From: Richard Vaughan, director of environmental affairs for the ITT Community Development Corporation
The PalmCoaster, Volume 11, Number 1, Winter/Spring, 1982, Front Cover Page, p 1., p 13.
Hurricane in Palm Coast? Not Likely
Like reports of Mark Twains’ death, reports of Florida hurricanes too have been greatly exaggerated.
Over the years people have become accustomed to thinking of hurricanes as the exclusive property of Florida. One reason might be that the National Hurricane Center is headquartered in Miami. Almost every hurricane news report originates in Miami, regardless of where the storm is located, be it 50 miles or 2,000 miles from Flroida.
What is a hurricane? it’s a large tropical cyclone with winds of at least 74 miles per hour, generally accompanied by heavy rains and high tides. The great spiral clouds of an average hurricane cover an area several hundred miles in diameter, although the area hit by the highest winds- those over 74 miles per hour-may only be 30 to 100 miles in diameter.
Hurricanes form over warm , tropical ocean areas and move to higher lattitudes like great spinning tops. Their movement is quite erratic. They can suddenly change directions, make loops, slow up or stop-and later move at 10 to 20 miles per hour. This forward speed of the hurricane system increases the fury of the circular winds flowing around the hurricane’s eye, or center.
The north American hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with most storms occuring in August, September and October.
The North Florida area isn’t immune to direct hits by hurricanes-no part of the United States’ gulf coast or eastern coastline is. But weather bureau records show that chances of a hurricane striking the Palm Coast region are considerably less than in most other coastal areas of the state and nation. Meteorologist Fred Crosby of the National Weather Service says,”the configuratioin of the coastline and the region’s latitude help explain the area’s relatively hurricane free record, which is based on the tracks of previous storms.”
“During the early stages of a tropocal storm,” says Crosby, ‘The movement is generally from the east to the west. The direction gradually changes…this movement pattern would reduce the probabiltiy of one of them directly hitting the northeast Florida coast.”
Looking at the past 100 years, Flagler and Volusia counties hold an envious distinction neither county ever received a direct hit from a full hurricane moving directly in from the ocean.
Although a total of 19 hurricane’s occuring during the 100-year period have posed serious threats and five have actually passed over the area, in each case those storms had already been over land for a number of hours and were greatly weakened in force and without the beach damage caused by ocean storms.
The last hurricane to afffect Palm Coast was Hurricane David, which brushed the area in early September, 1979. David’s highest wind gust recorded in Palm Coast was 59 miles per hour, and though it did drop 4.16 inches of rain over a 48 -hour period, no flood-related water damage occurred. One of the main reasons damage did not occur is because Palm Coast has been designed to withstand, what is termed, “the 100-year flood.” That, says Richard Vaughan, director of environmental affairs for ITT Community Development Corporation, means a flood that statistically could occur once in a hundred years could hit Palm Coast and no flood water would enter the houses.
Here is a probablity table based on National Weather Service data showing the chances of hurricane making landfall at varioius Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Seaboard areas:
Probability of Tropical Cyclone Making Direct Landfall during any given year:
Coastline areas:
Corpus Christi, Texas 1 : 8
Galveston, Texas 1 : 5
New Orleans, Louisiana 1 : 5
Pensacola, Florida 1 : 5
Apalachiocola, Florida 1 : 6
Tampa- St. Petersburg, Florida 1 : 10
Miami, Florida 1 : 6
Palm Coast, Florida 1 : 14
High and Low Temperatures in Palm Coast during December and January.
( As recorded by the Palm Coast Weather Bureau, Office of Environmental Affairs)
Date, High, Low
Dec.
1 84, 61
2 64 59
3 65 43
4 73 38
5 73 41
6 65 36
7 70 46
8 76 38
9 65 37
10 51 32
11 53 26
12 70 28
13 67 34
14 79 47
15 75 62
16 62 39
17 65 31
18 67 50
19 73 26
20 60 34
21 66 38
22 74 40
23 83 64
24 83 57
25 80 59
26 74 56
27 74 60
28 69 61
29 79 61
30 64 58
31 82 62
January
1 69 57
2 71 57
3 80 57
4 77 69
5 60 41
6 75 41
7 83 56
8 69 58
9 65 48
10 59 26
11 42 26
12 49 20
13 70 47
14 70 51
15 53 27
16 69 30
17 55 38
18 72 40
19 77 43
20 79 46
21 80 50
22 76 50
23 81 56
24 70 40
25 62 33
26 58 43
27 61 35
28 60 40
27 61 35
28 60 40
29 71 40
30 75 50
31 85 53
RICHARD DUGGER VAUGHAN
Richard Dugger Vaughan, Rear Admiral, U. S. Public Health Service (Ret.), 83, died peacefully at home in Ormond Beach, FL, on May 28, 2010. Services will be held in Ormond Beach, Wednesday, June 2…2:00 PM…St. James Episcopal Church, 44 S. Halifax Avenue. Viewing will be Tuesday, June 1…5:00 to 7:00 PM…Lohman Funeral Home, 733 Granada Avenue. Burial will take place at Arlington National Cemetery. Born in Evanston, Illinois to Beatrice and Merlin Vaughan, he spent his early years in Miami, FL…later graduating from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
—>In 1951, holding a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, Dick began a distinguished career in Environmental Engineering with the Public Health Service, rising to the rank of Assistant Surgeon General before retiring in 1971. He held Master of Civil Engineering and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Michigan, and was a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineering. Retirement brought him to the Halifax area as an executive with ITT Palm Coast.<--- Dick and his wife, the former Laura M. Henderson of Sarasota, FL, became active in community affairs, with Dick serving as President of Civic Music and the Daytona Playhouse and as a member of Seaside Music Theater's Advisory Board. He enjoyed being in musicals. Civic duties included the Board of Visitors for Embry-Riddle University and chairing the City of Ormond Beach Environmental Advisory Board. He served as Commodore of the Halifax River Yacht Club in 1999, later becoming Chairman of the Building Committee. He was a member of the Museum of Arts and Sciences and the Art League. He is survived by his wife Laura; son Robert, his wife Debbie and son Noah; daughter Cynthia Simmons, her husband Bruce, and children Jennifer, Steven, and Christine; daughter Kathryn Cejner, her husband Steve and children Blake and Lauren; sister Barbara Long, her son Curt and his wife of Pensacola, FL: beloved dog, Luvy; his adopted Simmons and Koch families; and the children of Children's Musical Theatre Workshop. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Special Olympics or to Children's Musical Theatre Workshop of Ormond Beach. Friends may send condolences http://www.LohmanFuneralHomes .com. Arrangements are under the careful supervision of Lohman Funeral Home Ormond.
The Palm Coast Projects’ concept and design –
1972 – ‘ An Approach to a New City: Palm Coast ‘ by Dr. J. Norman Young
pp: 128, 129, 135-137.
Prologue
It is self-evident that our earth is finite and that our population is growing. In ever increasing numbers, man must be sheltered, and the shelter, of course, must cover land. Transportation media to and from the shelter must cover land. Shops and service facilities must cover land. Who will say that land should not be cleared for at least these purposes, assuming an increase in population?
Proceeding from this starting point, we quickly arrive at the most sensitive area of environmental turmoil: making certain that when man clears and improves land, he simultaneously maximizes environmental integrity and maintains ecosystem continuity. thus being the challenges to us at Palm Coast. In our deliveration on the environment and ecosystems, as will be seen, much consideration has been given to both plant and animal life. Every attempt has been and shall be made to assure maintenance of al parameters of life cycles. Literature, both scientific and lay, is full of differing criteria with regard to protection for various plants and animals. In all candor, there is no way that all the sincere voices can be satisfied.
At Palm Coast, the preponderance of voices will have a city more satisfactory in the ecological sense than ever before anywhere. Neither perfection nor utopia will result…only the best that our talents, time, energies and resources can produce. At Palm Coast, given the fact of biological synergism, we do speak for plant life…and we do speak for animal…but most of all we speak for man.
Dr. J. Norman Young
Page 128
What follows is of necessity an all too brief discussioni of an approach to a new city. The brevity is unfortunate considering the scores of thousands of words appearing in out technical studies. It is our hope that the reader will gain at least a few insights into our thinking, our philogophy, our science. We only ask him to keep in mind the alternative to what we are doing with our land. It, as is certain with land ownership, our land has been sold to independent subdividers, each of whom built a fifty unit subdivision ( moe than the average builder in the U.S.) there would arise at the very least 5,000 different subdivisions– unplanned, unintegrated, uncoordinated, and without all our controls. Such an eventuality would clearly be unacceptable …typical of the American tragic city-building past. There is another alternative, to be sure. Do not build at all; but then how would the necessity of shelter be provided for the expanding population? In a book published recently, Housing Crisis, U.S.A. 1 ) P. Fried estimates that in a ten year period in the United States in order to replace inadequate housing and build the new housing needed by our expanding population, some thirty-one million new units are required. We estimate that less than two-thirds of that requirement will indeed be built. Worse. What happens later? Do we not build at all? One might as well prepare a dirge for America’s funeral.
Palm Coast will be neither a “sudden city’ nor an ‘instant’ one but will grow in accordance with a pre-planned program, no matter whether it flourishes twenty, thirty, or forty years from now. Palm Coast is a strip of land thirty miles long at its longest, ten miles wide at its widest, covering approximately 160 square miles. It is a fact that under the controls we will institute, despite its being larger in extent than Detroit or Philadelphia, it will have a density of say, Beverly Hills, California. But more on this later. Palm Coast has about six miles of ocean front, approximately twenty miles on the Intracoastal Waterway, and will have significant man made water areas. Again, these will be reviewed in the main body of the text.
Now to a brief description of the terrain. Like other areas along the east coast of Florida, the property was formed primarily by sand dunes that have been build up by the interaction of winds, waves, tidal cycles, and ocean currents. This continued accretion of land as a repetitive process has caused the creation of lagoons between the new dune and the existing land mass. It is from these lagoon that the present salt water lagoons and marshlands evolved.
pp 135-136
D. Pollutants in Drainage and Stormwater Runoff
Studies: Studies were conducted to determine the characteristics of fertilizers (e.g. phosphates, nitrates) that contribute least to nutrient runoff into surface water bodies. The ultimate goal is to prevent eutrophication. Specific products were recommended which are capable of releasing nutrients at a controlled rate; these were preferred over the water soluble types, which release nutrients at a very rapid rate on water contact. All available data were gathered to determine the extent and degree of pollutant concerntrations found in stormwater runoff from urban areas. Data indicate that runoff contains significant concentration of BOD , suspended solids, nutrients, and dissolved solids.
Soil erosion control technology was reviewed with regard to minimizing the effects of sediment runoof during construction when natural vegetative covers are removed and soil is exposed to water impact and scour energy. Alternative methods and/or practices are: (1) minimization of length of exposure time for unprotected grades areas, (2) soil treatment, seeding and mulching, or mulching alone, (3) interceptor dikes, (4) diversion dikes, (5) sediment traps. It was recommended that ll of the methods studies should be applied to Palm Coast and incorporated wherever possible in design aof the drainage system in order to retard water movement as much as possible.
Solutions: whereas conventional techniques have aimed at rapid movement and disposal of rainwater from a given site, the present
Page 134
methods available, and required treatment facilities. It was concluded that pollution cased by boats has been only recently recognized as an important wastewater source in marine waters and that the most effective control device available to date is the holding tank. On shore disposal facilities at Marinas are necessary for boat owner pump out service.
Solutions: Legal studies are now being instituted to determine methods of regulation of the following: (1) prohibiting discharges of all wastes from watercraft ( requirement for boat owners to install holding tanks will be sought in regulations of the drainage district); (2) wastes from holding tanks must be disposed of through on shore disposal facilities; pumping storage, and disposal facilities will be constructed on shore to delilver waste to the central treatment plant; (3) all other types of wastes such as litter, garage, oil, chemicals, etc. from watercrafts.
D. Pollutants in Drainage and Stormwater Runoff
Studies: Studies were conducted to determine the characteristics of fertilizers (e.g. phosphates, nitrates) that contribute least to nutrient runoff into surface water bodies. The ultimate goal is to prevent eutrophication. Specific products were recommended which are capable of releasing nutrients at a controlled rate; these were preferred over the water soluble types, which release nutrients at a very rapid rate on water contact. All available data were gathered to determine the extent and degree of pollutant concerntrations found in stormwater runoff from urban areas. Data indicate that runoff contains significant concentration of BOD , suspended solids, nutrients, and dissolved solids.
Soil erosion control technology was reviewed with regard to minimizing the effects of sediment runoof during construction when natural vegetative covers are removed and soil is exposed to water impact and scour energy. Alternative methods and/or practices are: (1) minimization of length of exposure time for unprotected grades areas, (2) soil treatment, seeding and mulching, or mulching alone, (3) interceptor dikes, (4) diversion dikes, (5) sediment traps. It was recommended that ll of the methods studies should be applied to Palm Coast and incorporated wherever possible in design aof the drainage system in order to retard water movement as much as possible.
Solutions: whereas conventional techniques have aimed at rapid movement and disposal of rainwater from a given site, the present
Page 135
being utilized in the layout, spacing, and geometry of the dredged canal systems and in establishing minimum homesite elevations. (2) Shallow canal depths of eight feet were selected in order to maximize turbulence and eliminate the possibility of stratification. Therefore, dissolved oxygen levels are maintained throughout the entire depth.
F. Operation, and Maintenance of Canals to Perpetuate Water Quality and Aesthetics.
Sutdies: Water quality criteria for tidal canals are classified by the State of Florida according to use. They fall into Class III standards for recreation and for propagation and management of fish and wildlife. The criteria governing these waters may be summarized as follows: modern treatment technology required for all discharges into canals: pH range of 6.0-8.5, minimum dissolved oxyten of 4.0 mg/l; coliform bacteria not to exceed 1,000 per 100 ml as a monthly average; no substances toxic to humans, animals or aquatic life; no substances causing deleterious effects or nuisance conditions; turbidity less than 50 Jackson unite above background; and no damage to aquatic life, vegetation, or water use caused by temperature elevation.
An inventory of pollutant sources into the canals was made. Since the entire water front area will be certainly sewered , there will be no domestic or industrial waste inputs. Discharges and effluents from boats will be negigible . As discussed earlier under Section D, drainage and storm water runoff is the only important source of potential pollution. However, design of the drainage system has called for maximum water retention on the land, where major fractions of the pollutants will be filtered out and/or absorbed by the soil vegetation complex. Rainfall records have been studied to accurately determine what will be the runoff volumes and their relative distribution throughout the year. Likewise, the amount of fresh water flow into the canals has been calculated. Pollutants loading rates were projected, based upon studies which have investigated storm water quality of urban runoff. Since these published loading factors are developed from areas aimed at rapid movement and disposal of rain water from a given site, they can be substantially lowered for Palm Coast becaue of our drastically different approach in drainage philosophy. Both in terms of volumetric and concentration discharge, the study showed that loading
Page 136
Page 136
rates are favorably low for biochemical oxygen demand, nitrogen, phosphates, and solids.
Solution: Regulatory laws will be sought in order to (1) maintain dissolved oxygen levels at pre-determined values by combinations of natural and mechanical means; (2) maintain canal banks; (3) remove water surface debris, trash, oiil, etc.; (4) maintain tributary area drainage system; and (5) maintain all drainage works,. Responsive and corrective action in relation to established water quality criteria will be taken.
G. Sampling and Monotiring of Canal Water quality
Solutions: Representative sampling points will be established throughout the entire system. Also established will be a periodic sampling schedule as follows, based upon degree of resident occupancy:
Occupancy : 1-25, Sampling once every four Months, 26-50 Composite sampling once every two months, 51-75 Composite sampling once every month, 76-100 Continuous sampling, recorded.
Installation will be made of a permanent recording, remove-sensing, water-quality monitoring system at 75 % occupancy.
H. Preservation of Tidal Wetlands
Study: Preliminary site analysis data showed that approximately 4,000 acres of project property are tidal wetlands, which comprise areas of great biological diversity and productivity. These areas produce a wide variety of living organisms, from microscopic species to fish and shellfish, birds, and mammals. Many species spend their entire life cycles in tidal wetlands, whereas others spend portions of their cycles there. Abundant species of plant growth, which form the base for all animal life, are also evident.
Solution: NO building, construction, or development will occur on tidal wetlands.
1. Preservation of Intracoastal Waterway Water Quality.
Study: Available engineering studies, reports, and other records were gathered on the Intracoastal Waterway in the vicinity of Palm Coast , relating to construction problems, erosion, and maintenance-
Page 137
dredging required within the waterway. Also, conditions of the waterway withing the Project tract, information on spoil easements and data relative to flood elevation were documented in the report.
Solution: Earth plugs are used to prevent intrusion of sediment into the Waterway while canal construction is in progress. After turbidity levels in the canals subside to low background levels, the plugs are removed, leaving no adverse effects upon the water quality.
J. Solid Waste Disposal