Flood Map Hits Lee County Property Owners

Expanded federal floodway maps have some Lee County property owners worried that they may not be able to rebuild or start construction on their land - at least not without expensive engineering studies.

Their concerns have spurred a much-needed burst of work for appraisers, surveyors, engineers and real estate attorneys hard hit by the housing slowdown.

A year ago, new Federal Emergency Management Administration recommendations implemented by the county put the new floodways into effect: 18 square miles along major waterways such as the Orange River in east Lee County and the 10 Mile Canal near Metro Parkway in Fort Myers. Previously only a small area of mainly undevelopable land near the Imperial River was considered floodways.

Some property owners filed notices of intent by Friday's deadline to file claims under Florida's Bert Harris Act, which requires government agencies to compensate property owners who can't use their land as intended because of a regulation, said Joan LaGuardia, communications manager for the county Department of Community Development.

It won't necessarily come to that for most who filed, she said. "Really all they're doing is getting their foot in the door."

Land-use attorney Matt Uhle said last week he'd file about five notices on behalf of clients who own land, although he doesn't consider the deadline a hard-and-fast rule.

"My personal opinion is that it's not necessary to file one of these unless a permit has been requested and turned down," he said. "It may be that some people have reviewed this and decided they don't need to file a notice of claim yet, and there's a perfectly legitimate argument that's true."

Still, he said, there are probably a lot of property owners who simply don't know about the new rules. "I would be very surprised if that's not the case."

Enough of them are aware, though, that appraisers are being kept busy evaluating properties to determine their value, said commercial appraiser Mike Maxwell of Fort Myers-based Maxwell and Hendry Evaluation Services, who is working on reports for five clients.

Engineer Al Quattrone of Quattrone Associates said that even floodway property owners who don't file under Bert Harris are finding themselves in need of his services.

That's because they can also remedy their situation by getting FEMA to revise the map or by showing that what they plan to build won't adversely affect drainage, he said.

The problem, he said, is that for an individual property owner that's usually prohibitively expensive to do.

To get around that, he's representing a group of property owners along Metro Parkway between Colonial Boulevard and Daniels Parkway so they can split the cost.

There's been relatively little concern among property owners about the new rules, he said, probably "because it's one of the slowest periods ever in Lee County" for real estate development.

Also, he said, many people are under the mistaken impression that they can simply build higher or provide mitigation to get their projects built. That can work for property on land categorized as floodplain but not in the more severe floodway designation.

Appealing the floodway designation is often effective, LaGuardia said, noting that appeals already have resulted in 3,400 parcels being taken out since the new map was first proposed.

Although FEMA drafted the floodway map, LaGuardia said, the county is charged with enforcing it.

As a practical matter, she said, the county commission had little choice but to pass an ordinance putting the floodway regulations into effect.

That's because of a wide range of benefits the county gets from FEMA in exchange: hurricane reimbursements and a national flood insurance program that cuts flood insurance for residents by 25 percent.

"There is no responsible way to not participate," LaGuardia said.