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Pasco County To Prosecute Ground-Floor Living In Flood Zone Building Homes

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 27, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Coastal residents living in flood zones could face legal action if they have added living space to flood-prone lower levels of their homes, based on action Pasco County commissioners took today.

Commissioners gave county staffers the go-ahead to begin forcing homeowners to meet rules laid out by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that ban people from turning the lower levels of their raised homes into living areas.

FEMA rules demand that homeowners raise their houses above potential flood levels, leaving the lower level to be used as a garage or for limited storage. The ground floors are typically built with walls that will either break away or let floodwaters flow through.

Alterations to those characteristics are often the most visible sign that someone is living on their home's ground floor, county officials said.

Tuesday's action moves about 130 homeowners from the limbo they've been in since 2004 when then-Commissioner Peter Altman tried to get FEMA to loosen its rules on ground-floor living areas.

Altman sought the rule change to help homeowners who bought homes not realizing the ground-floor changes were illegal.

FEMA told the county last year that - after the storms of 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 - it wouldn't change the rules, which the federal agency sets and the county must enforce.

By enforcing the FEMA rules, Pasco County ensures flood-prone residents get discounts in their insurance rates - now running about 15 percent, Development Review director Cindy Jolly said.

Because the insurance rates apply countywide, a handful of coastal residents who flout the rules cause thousands of other residents to pay higher insurance rates, Jolly said.

A lack of enforcement in Monroe County, which includes the Keys, means every homeowner will have to submit to a home inspection as part of renewing flood insurance, Jolly said.

County officials will enforce the FEMA rules through the county's Construction Board.

Enforcing the rules can be tricky, however. County inspectors can't force homeowners to let them inside their homes, Jolly said.

If an inspector is denied access, he or she can still base a potential citation on alterations that may be visible from the street - such living space visible through an open door or blocked flood vents, Jolly said.

Commissioner Michael Cox fretted that the 170 pending cases could be just the tip of the iceberg, presenting the county with a large burden to enforce.

"I would submit there's probably more people in violation than in compliance," Cox said.

"We wouldn't disagree," Jolly said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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