SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Homeowners have started to feel the impact of the newly issued Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps.
Some Sarasota County property owners who didn't need flood insurance have gotten notifications from their mortgage lenders -- about 6,000 homes were impacted after they were moved into FEMA's new flood zone mapping. Up to 1,000 along the Honore Avenue axis in Palmer Ranch are also included.
In one development cluster alone, there were nearly 400 homes affected and homeowners with mortgage payments will now have to cough up money they didn't budget to put toward flood insurance.
However, some homeowners said their homes should not be a part of the reclassification because they're above the 16-foot base elevation.
"I'm by the interstate. I'm so far away. I thought that I would be away from having to worry about any floods," homeowner Casey Stengel said.
Casey is also the community treasurer of the Home Owners Association of the Hammock Preserve.
While his home is not on a mortgage plan, he and his neighbors are unhappy about the reclassification into the special flood hazard areas.
"We got notices through the mail -- some of our residents from their mortgage lender -- that they have to have flood insurance within 45 days and this is coming as a surprise to some of them because when they bought these residences, we were all in what was considered X zone, that was non-flood," Stengel said.
"FEMA has now placed all of these residents in a new zone called AE, which is a special flood hazard zone mandating that if you have a mortgage, you have to have flood insurance," he said.
It is the same predicament for some neighbors across Honore Avenue at the Promenade, leaving some to re-assess their new risks.
"My home loan did not make me take it because I wasn't in the flood zone but because I'm so close now, instead of rolling the dice, I went ahead and took it out," homeowner James Weisenbacher said.
Around 10,000 homes were taken out of the previous flood zone map while new homes were added. County officials said some homes along the Myakka River vicinity which were previously omitted from the map incorrectly have now been properly designated.
"The number of people that have gone in is about 5,000, so there's a net positive on people coming out of the special flood hazard area," Sarasota County certified flood plain manager Noah Taylor said. "These maps are better than the maps we were using before so it's not all doom and gloom."
But new elevations of up to 20 feet for some developments built in the last 10 years in the Palmer Ranch area -- formerly cow pastures -- were not taken into account.
Homeowner Dennis Hudson has already started the evaluation process for his property; he said it is cumbersome and costly for households to undertake individually.
He had to hire a surveyor to evaluate the elevation of his property. From there, getting a certificate, filing an exemption and sending the information to FEMA, which he says takes 60 to 90 days to process, cost him close to $500 total to complete himself.
Hudson says the process also raises concerns for neighbors on fixed and limited income.
"It's one thing if you bought in knowing this but it's another thing to get a surprise. All of a sudden you get a surprise and you have banks calling you and everything else. I just don't think it's the right way to handle this," Hudson said.
Officials advise having flood insurance with the possibility of hurricanes is about security and peace of mind. For Weisenbacher, it's the reason he has to make room in his budget plan for the $1,400 it costs him.
"It's a national crisis with weather issues everywhere so better safe than sorry," Weisenbacher said.
Community leaders from the Palmer Ranch area said they have contacted county officials and at least one county commissioner to see how they can collectively get help with the process and have FEMA officials account for the accurate elevation of the homes in that area.