Cohousing-L Mailing List: Flood Plains in Florida

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Jan 25, 2025, at 10:26 AM, R Philip Dowds via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> Over-development of problematic terrain, and under-management of attendant 
> risks, are certainly problems.  So long as we’re looking to transfer risk 
> from the public at large to localities and properties making bad choices, we 
> should also consider canceling FEMA’s NFIP (National Flood Insurance 
> Program), which definitely encourages over-optimistic over-development of 
> coastal lands and flood plains.  (But this might make Mar-A-Lago uninsurable, 
> and thus is not likely to gain traction as a federal priority.)

An article from 2017 with a photo of projected sea levels for Mar a Lago in 
2100, a 10-12 ft rise. It will be all but gone.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-climate-change-sea-level-rise-south-florida-mar-a-lago-2017-7

25 years ago I worked with a group trying to build cohousing in Florida (just 
above Boca Raton). All the canals you see in housing developments there are not 
for beauty. That’s where they dig up the dirt to raise the buildings to the 
minimum level allowed. 

At that time, the cohousing group had property that was at 13” and the minimum 
was 11”. 13” was considered safe. I doubt that it would be today.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org