Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Planning and Development Services

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Amy Miller, Long-Range Planner
CC:	Scott McCullough, Planning & Development Services Director
Date:	November 14, 2012
RE:	Recognition of the City of Lawrence obtaining a Class 7 in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System.

Every year, flooding causes hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of damage to homes and businesses around the country and standard homeowners and commercial property policies do not cover flood losses. To meet the need for this vital coverage, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administers the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The NFIP offers reasonably priced flood insurance in communities that comply with minimum standards for floodplain management.

The National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements. As a result, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from the community actions meeting the three goals of the CRS:

1. Reduce flood damage to insurable property;

2. Strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the NFIP, and

3. Encourage a comprehensive approach to floodplain management.

In order to maintain certification in the CRS program, the City performs numerous activities every year including mailing an informational floodplain brochure to every property owner in the regulatory floodplain, maintaining an informational website, providing floodplain determinations, having staff certified as Certified Floodplain Managers (CFM) and conducting an outreach activity by inserting a floodplain brochure in utility bills.

The City of Lawrence entered the CRS program in 2004 as a Class Level 8, which allowed residents to get a 10% discount on their flood insurance premiums for 100-year flood zones. While the City had obtained enough points to be a Class Level 7, we were prevented from moving up to that class since a pre-requisite of being a Class Level 7 was obtaining a Building Codes Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS) classification of 6 for residential construction and 6 for all other construction. In December 2011, the city obtained a BCEGS rating of 4 for residential one- and two-family construction and 3 for all other construction. See attached memo for more information.

As a direct result of obtaining the BCEGS rating of 4/3, the City of Lawrence was able to move from a Class Level 8 to a Class Level 7 in the CRS program, effective October 1, 2012. This now enables Lawrence residents to obtain a 15% discount on their flood insurance premiums for 100-year flood zones. It should also be noted that the City of Lawrence was the first community in the State of Kansas to obtain a rating better than a Class 8.

Currently, there are 469 flood insurance policies in the City of Lawrence. Moving to a Class Level 7, will provide residents holding a flood insurance policy for a property located in the 100-year floodplain with an average policy premium deduction of $132 and will result in an overall savings of roughly $11,700 across all flood insurance policy holders annually.