Delayed processing of floodplain status by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is threatening to slow down homebuilding in Sumter County.
At a workshop meeting Tuesday night, County Administrator Bradley Arnold said FEMA processing can take up to three years, partly due to the agency’s staff cuts.
Fueled by expansion of The Villages, Sumter County issued 4,131 permits for single-family homes last year valued at $1.1 billion.
If a lot is in a designated flood zone, it must meet floodplain standards and elevation permits may be required. Generally, any structure on new concrete requires a permit.
Besides delayed processing, FEMA also has been inconsistent in determining floodplain status, sometimes treating adjacent lots differently.
FEMA updates to its floodplain map are important to homeowners because they determine how much can be saved on floodplain insurance.
Arnold said a work-around is to presume lot approval and make sure that new structures are at or higher than current structures.
He said this approach could cause problems in a few cases, but would sustain economic growth.
During the public forum portion of the meeting, several speakers complained about communication issues between contractors and building inspectors.
Nate Yoder said inspectors need to call contractors to discuss items before issuing failure notices.
Billy Bowles suggested Sumter County follow the lead of other counties and hold monthly meetings with contractors and inspectors “to hash out these issues in real time.”
Building code violations in Sumter County are investigated purely on a complaint basis. A change could allow inspectors to find complaints on their own.
But that change could require the county to replace contracted inspectors with in-house employees to avoid the risk of contractors padding their incomes by racking up violations.