Friday night, a second Lee County community confirmed it had filed all the necessary data with FEMA to preserve a 25% flood insurance discount for its residents.
City leaders told their Bonita Springs Community Correspondent Dominga Murray that they met with FEMA Friday night. They said as of April 30th, the city has provided information on all sites FEMA wanted reviewed, and that they continued to coordinate with FEMA as they follow up.
This came out of an announcement back in March, where FEMA told Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Fort Myers Beach, Estero, and Lee County that their 25% national flood insurance discount would expire October 1. FEMA cited too much unpermitted construction following Hurricane Ian, and a lack of data throughout the process.
The decision created an outcry from leaders in all of these communities, who said the decision came without warning. After many conversations, FEMA agreed to give governments extensions to review and update data and answer lingering questions in FEMA's initial findings. (See FOX 4's extensive coverage of this controversy below).
On Wednesday this week, Cape Coral Mayor John Gunther announced the city was the first to complete its work ahead of deadline to preserve the discount, and he was confident they would be successful.
Also on Wednesday, Lee County said it was still working diligently to supply documentation in their FEMA review ahead of their June 10th deadline.
At a town council meeting May 6, leaders in Fort Myers Beach said they intended to meet with FEMA May 7 to coordinate what questions needed to be answered and what data was required, as some of the properties in FEMA's review no longer existed.
