Helping a Florida Town Save Millions in Flood Insurance

Homeowners and commercial property owners living in flood-prone sections of Cutler Bay, Florida are getting a break on their insurance rates, thanks in part to the town’s collaboration with WSP to create a floodplain management plan that will protect properties from water damage.

As of April, the Town of Cutler Bay received a Community Rating System (CRS) Class 3 rating from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The floodplain management plan was one of 19 CRS activities in the town’s comprehensive approach to improve its rating in FEMA’s CRS program, having previously been rated at a CRS Class 4.

FEMA’s CRS program provides flood insurance for property owners in flood-prone areas, and because of this improved CRS rating, Cutler Bay residents located in Special Flood Hazard Areas will pay less on their flood insurance premiums. Policyholders on average will save $338 per flood insurance policy, while the town itself is expected to save more than $2.3 million.

Cutler Bay is one of only three CRS Class 3 ratings in the state, and the only one in both Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. This was made possible by WSP experts who worked closely with the town in the development of an updated floodplain management plan and other CRS program activities that guided Cutler Bay towards this milestone.

“I’m very proud of our work on this, especially when you consider the size of this community,” said David Stroud, associate planner for water resources at WSP in the U.S. “It’s a small community of around 45,000 people, with around 32 full-time employees working on projects like this. It’s not a huge metropolis, but they’re doing better than most major cities on the CRS side.”

Green Impact Goals

The CRS is a voluntary program that encourages participating communities to exceed the minimum federal floodplain management requirements, and to develop additional measures that safeguard private property from potential flooding. The program’s main objectives are to reduce flood damages to insurable property, support the insurance aspects of the NFIP and promote a comprehensive approach to floodplain management.

CRS communities are discounted based on each community’s efforts to reduce their flood risk. This is ranked on a scale from CRS 10 to 1, with CRS 1 being the greatest CRS discount. This is also the same Insurance Services Office rating system that provides ratings for fire departments across the country.

WSP first helped Cutler Bay achieve a CRS 4 rating by preparing a watershed master plan for the Florida community, as well as a stormwater manual and stormwater regulations. This was necessary because the CRS program has a Class 4 prerequisite for a stormwater master plan.

This supported Cutler Bay’s goal of implementing green infrastructure and low impact development projects. The stormwater manual WSP helped develop, for example, details design specifications for select stormwater best management practices, and is written specifically to assist developers in their site-design process and to help them meet post-construction stormwater requirements. 

WSP then helped Cutler Bay reach CRS 3 by developing the town’s CRS Floodplain Management Plan, as well as a Repetitive Loss Area Analysis and updates to its Program for Public Information. Creation of this floodplain management plan involved an active Flood Mitigation Planning Committee, which included 50 percent membership from the public and other stakeholders. This allowed upfront, local buy-in to the plan in its earliest stages, including two public meetings and four Flood Mitigation Planning Committee meetings.

These efforts ensured that Cutler Bay met both FEMA’s requirements and Disaster Mitigation Act 44 CFR 201.6, which in turn ensured the community’s eligibility for federal grant money and CRS credit. The updates to the Program for Public Information helped to maximize the community’s credits under CRS Activity 300, for example.

Furthermore, these measures will help Cutler Bay better prepare for future flooding impact. The repetitive loss area analysis, for instance, pinpoints feasible and cost-effective mitigation strategies for the most at-risk areas of the community.

“The CRS program benefits the community residents with discounts on their flood insurance policies, but that’s just the icing on the cake,” Stroud said. “The real foundation of this is that they have a better program for flood preparedness, from a compliance standpoint.”

Further recognition was garnered for Cutler Bay during the Florida Floodplain Managers Association Conference 2023 in April, where Stroud participated in a panel presentation showcasing how a small municipality can effectively achieve this goal.

“This demonstrates their strong commitment to effective floodplain management practices,” said Conn H. Cole, Florida's National Flood Insurance Program coordinator and floodplain manager, about the Cutler Bay initiative.

“They’ve joined a select group of four Florida communities with a Class 3 rating,” added Jason Hunter, FEMA Region 4 chief.

Part of this success can be attributed to the collaborative efforts with Cutler Bay administrators, including Rafael Casals, town manager; Alfredo Quintero, public works director; Yenier Vega, stormwater utility manager; and Dr. Jared Munster, community development director. All four are certified floodplain managers.

Expertise, Please

Cutler Bay looked to the experts at WSP for guidance because of the firm’s reputation as a reliable resource for green infrastructure projects and CRS compliance program expertise.

“I’ve been working in the CRS program and consulted on CRS program projects for more than a decade, even prior to my time with WSP, and I work with an excellent team of professionals who also know the program inside and out,” Stroud said. “I think that’s why Cutler Bay wanted WSP to help its community advanced in the CRS program.”

According to Stroud, part of the team’s success with communities like Cutler Bay is by not pushing too hard as a consultant, and instead letting the community take the first step with WSP’s guidance.

“We sort of let the community do the driving, and they just come to us for our expertise,” Stroud said. “That’s our formula for projects like this one. The most important thing for us is to listen to the client, then give them what they need to succeed.”

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