INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The County Commission today adopted a package of regulations and amendments to county ordinances and building codes to make them consistent with new state flood protection regulations.
Roland DeBlois, chief of environmental planning and code enforcement, said many of the amendments merely restate regulations already on Indian River County’s books to put them in verbal sync with the 2010 Florida Building Code that was adopted somewhat belatedly in March.
He said other amendments are required because some county regulations are stricter then Florida regulations and must be added to state rules.
As an example he said the county requires an extra six inches of “freeboard,” which is the height of finished floors above flood levels. By incorporating those stricter rules into the statewide building code template, the county will allow residents of unincorporated areas to get lower rates on their flood insurance, DeBlois said.
Commissioners also adopted new flood zone maps based on more accurate aerial photography and elevation information that will make it much clearer which properties are in flood zones and which ones are outside those zones.
DeBlois showed two flood maps of the Moorings as an example. The older map was a somewhat ambiguous shaded overlay that showed the entire community in a flood zone.
The newer map was clearer and more specific.
“Based on better elevation information, you can see that many properties in the Moorings are not actually in the flood zone,” DeBlois said.
If a property that was shown in a flood zone is reclassified out of the flood zone, insurance is cheaper.
DeBlois said the county consulted with the state to fine tune changes to code language and that the cost to the county to implement the amendments “is negligible,” but that the changes will provide “continued savings to consumers and lower insurance rates for residents.”
After making several innocuous remarks about their dislike of rules and regulations and government, commissioners approved the package of changes unanimously.