Communities around the country including New York City, the Massachusetts towns of Marshfield, Scituate, and Duxbury; Palm Beach County, Fla.; Bethany Beach, Del.; New Orleans; and Belvedere, Calif. have challenged Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance rate maps.
The new maps place 80% more New York City homes and businesses in flood zones than the previous set of maps. New York City disputes the new maps and has come up with its own map that takes into account resiliency projects such as hardening of the shoreline. The city’s revised map would remove about 26,000 buildings from flood zones. It wants FEMA to revise federal flood zone maps according to the city’s map.
Builders in New Jersey who have permits that were grandfathered in may still move forward with their projects in flood zones, but are faced with tough decisions. Those who choose to build under outdated flood zone regulations may have their projects undervalued when buyers discover they have to pay high flood insurance premiums.
Professionals who deal with flood map revision requests say that the agency is open to good faith requests for changes to the maps. The process to get changes passed is a lengthy one, however.
Related Stories
AEC Tech | Apr 30, 2024
Lack of organizational readiness is biggest hurdle to artificial intelligence adoption
Managers of companies in the industrial sector, including construction, have bought the hype of artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative technology, but their organizations are not ready to realize its promise, according to research from IFS, a global cloud enterprise software company. An IFS survey of 1,700 senior decision-makers found that 84% of executives anticipate massive organizational benefits from AI.
Senior Living Design | Jan 11, 2024
Designing for personal technology is crucial for senior living facilities
Today’s seniors are increasingly tech savvy. It isn’t enough to give senior living residents a pre-determined bundle of technology and assume that they’ll be satisfied.
Smart Buildings | Oct 27, 2023
Cox Communities partnership levels up smart tech for multifamily customers
Yesterday, Cox Communities announced its partnership with Level Home Inc., a provider of next-generation smart IoT solutions for multifamily customers.
Products and Materials | Sep 29, 2023
Top building products for September 2023
BD+C Editors break down 15 of the top building products this month, from smart light switches to glass wall systems.
Sustainability | Aug 15, 2023
Carbon management platform offers free carbon emissions assessment for NYC buildings
nZero, developer of a real-time carbon accounting and management platform, is offering free carbon emissions assessments for buildings in New York City. The offer is intended to help building owners prepare for the city’s upcoming Local Law 97 reporting requirements and compliance. This law will soon assess monetary fines for buildings with emissions that are in non-compliance.
Modular Building | Jul 6, 2023
Lennar, Mastry Ventures make multi-million dollar investment in net-zero prefab homes
Mastry Ventures and LENx, the venture arm of homebuilder Lennar, have co-invested in Vessel Technologies’ next-generation housing product.
AEC Tech | May 9, 2023
4 insights on building product manufacturers getting ‘smart’
Overall, half of building product manufacturers plan to invest in one or more areas of technology in the next three years.
Smart Buildings | Apr 7, 2023
Carnegie Mellon University's research on advanced building sensors provokes heated controversy
A research project to test next-generation building sensors at Carnegie Mellon University provoked intense debate over the privacy implications of widespread deployment of the devices in a new 90,000-sf building. The light-switch-size devices, capable of measuring 12 types of data including motion and sound, were mounted in more than 300 locations throughout the building.
Intelligent Lighting | Feb 13, 2023
Exploring intelligent lighting usage in healthcare, commercial facilities
SSR's Todd Herrmann, PE, LEEP AP, explains intelligent lighting's potential use cases in healthcare facilities and more.
Products and Materials | Jan 18, 2023
6 innovative products for multifamily developments
Here are six innovative products for various multifamily developments, including a condominium-wide smart electrical system, heavy-duty aluminum doors, and prefabricated panels.