Light Rain, 66°
Weather sponsored by:

Handful of properties puts Clay County’s flood insurance in jeopardy

Wesley LeBlanc
Posted 6/12/19

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – The county’s National Flood Insurance Program plan might be in jeopardy if 62 properties fail to get into compliance before the end of the year.

The county’s director of …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

Handful of properties puts Clay County’s flood insurance in jeopardy


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – The county’s National Flood Insurance Program plan might be in jeopardy if 62 properties fail to get into compliance before the end of the year.

The county’s director of economic and development services, Chereese Stewart, presented the Board of County Commissioners with her department’s letters of action Tuesday, June 11, for 62 properties that aren’t in compliance with the NFIP. According to Stewart, the county hasn’t heard from 22 of the properties, while owners of the other 40 said they will get their properties in compliance.

“This is just for discussion,” Stewart said. “Maybe by the next meeting, I’d like to get these sent out. The key for...these letters is that we want to put a line in the sand.”

According to Stewart, if the county fails to get these citizen-owned properties under compliance, the county will lose its status with NFIP. It’s the NFIP that keeps flood insurance in the area so low. Without the NFIP, flood insurance will still be available but it will be available from a very select few insurers with extremely high prices, Stewart said.

“Folks mandated to have [flood insurance] might not be able to afford it if we lost NFIP,” Stewart said.

The county plans to send three types of letters. The first letter will go to homeowners with unsafe homes. For the most part, the 62 properties under compliance were brought out of compliance because of Hurricane Irma and the damage it caused. Steward estimates that roughly 25 of the 62 will receive the first type of letter.

“These are the scariest ones because they’re living in a home that is not safe to live in,” Stewart said. “What we’re going to do is write a letter to Clay Electric and shut [the home’s] power off, so this is serious stuff which is why we need your backing.”

Stewart suggested a compliance date of Aug. 31 be attached to the first letter.

The second type of letter is a letter dubbed within Stewart’s department unofficially as the “what are you doing?” letter. Those letters will go to 25 homeowners who haven’t been in touch with the county.

Stewart suggested a Dec. 31 compliance date be attached to the letter.

The third letter will be sent to 10 homeowners that are deemed temporary dwellers. Stewart said these are people who need to make immediate repairs to their home, but they haven’t began the process. She suggested an Aug. 31 compliance date for this letter.

The BCC agreed with Stewart. Commissioner Gayward Hendry asked that an additional sentence be added to each letter.

“I fully support this, but in the interest of full disclosure...can we add a sentence explaining why we’re doing this?” Hendry asked. “If we don’t get this done, we’re jeopardizing every homeowner on the creek for years to come...and these people need to know that.”

According to the county’s interim manager Lorin Mock, it’s a common problem.

“Clay county is not unique in dealing with this,” Mock said. “Given the damage of some recent hurricanes...almost all coast communities that have experienced such events have similar things taking place.”

Stewart said Clay County needs to complete its compliance with NFIP for the safety of its residents.

“Those 60-plus folks are putting the entire county’s national flood insurance plan in jeopardy,” Stewart said.