Variance may boost flood insurance rates

SANDPOINT — Bonner County landowners could lose a 5 percent discount on their flood insurance policies if the county commission grants a variance to Sagle landowners who expanded their home in a floodplain.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is recommending a retrograded rating in the National Flood Insurance Program because of the variance, said Mark Riebau, chief of Floodplain Management & Insurance for FEMA’s Region X office in Bothell, Wash.

Bonner County is classified as a nine in the federal flood insurance program’s Community Rating System. If FEMA officials in Washington, D.C., concur with the regional office’s recommendation, the rating would slip to a 10, Riebau said.

Local landowners receive the insurance premium discount because the county generally has a good track record in enforcing its own floodplain ordinance, said Riebau, who regards the current situation as an anomaly.

“We’re not washing our hands of Bonner County. They’ve done an excellent job. This is an outlier,” Riebau said.

There are 250 NFIP policies in Bonner County, which represents $58 million in flood insurance coverage, according FEMA.

If the county were to develop a pattern of allowing encroachments within the floodplain, its status in the NFIP could become probationary or it could be suspended altogether.

Suspension from NFIP could affect the ability of residents to secure conventional or government-backed loans. The county could also be held responsible for flood damages and denied federal disaster assistance in the event of a flood if its booted from the program.

County commissioners Lewis Rich and Cornel Rasor voted last month to grant a variance to a Sagle couple who substantially improved their home on Lake Pend Oreille without a permit and without raising the home’s foundation to keep it out of the floodplain.

The board is scheduled to finalize the variance request on March 30. The board is not scheduled to consider additional testimony on the request.