PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MA – Plymouth County, MA - The Town of Hull, Massachusetts sits on a 3-square-mile strip of land on the Nantasket Peninsula, extending into Massachusetts Bay. Despite its small size, it has one of the largest population densities in the Commonwealth, averaging 11,000 year-round residents and swelling to 20,000 or more in the summer seasons. The high density has resulted in near-total development of all available land in the town.
Hull is subject to frequent inundation from storms. Even moderate wave action from seasonal storms called “Nor’easters” can cause significant damage to local properties, despite the protection of coastal banks and dunes, or even man-made defenses such as revetments and seawalls. To date, the largest of these such storms, the Blizzard of 1978, filled the streets of Hull with water reaching depths of several feet, causing major damage to hundreds of buildings and homes throughout the town. Many of those same homes damaged in the Blizzard of ’78 had sustained considerable damage from a number of storms and floods over the years.
“Our community has the third highest number of repetitive loss properties in the Commonwealth,” said Anne Herbst, Hull’s Conservation Administrator. “In the 30 years since the ’78 Blizzard, we’ve had 23 coastal storms that have resulted in damages to over 500 residential structures.”
Because Massachusetts state law prohibits communities from enforcing stricter building codes or standards than those contained in the uniform state building code, local communities are unable to enforce stricter codes and ordinances than the state requires. This has resulted in towns and cities like Hull having to come up with creative forms of incentives to encourage the adoption of enhanced building techniques, such as the incorporation of freeboard. Put simply, freeboard is the practice of elevating a structure’s lowest floor, either during or after its construction, to a level higher than predicted flood levels for that area’s base flood elevation (BFE). Many communities throughout the United States encourage, or even require, the use of freeboard of at least 1 foot higher than their local BFE.
In September 2009, with the encouragement of Herbst, based on research she had undertaken, Hull’s Board of Selectmen unanimously approved a new program available to new and existing residential structures. For those who elect to incorporate 2 feet of freeboard into the construction, they will receive a $500 credit towards their permitting costs. “We wanted to alert people to the risks associated with the potential for future sea level rise. Since we couldn’t legally require people to build 2 feet higher, we had to find other alternatives,” said Herbst. “So, we were looking into ways to move people in that direction, and this was considered to be a real attention grabber.”
There are a number of benefits beyond the $500 credit to permitting costs for those people who participate in the incentive program. The first, and most obvious, is the peace of mind homeowners will have knowing their homes have a greater safety margin above possible future flood levels. Another financial boon from such a program is the savings that homeowners will see in their flood insurance costs. Because Massachusetts state law already requires homes to be built 2 feet above the BFE in a V Zone, homeowners wishing to participate in the incentive program must add an additional 2 feet, building to a height of 4 feet above the BFE. On average, that increase of 2 extra feet of freeboard in a V Zone will result in an annual flood insurance savings of more than 50 percent.
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulations require coastal communities to ensure that buildings constructed in V Zones are anchored to resist wind and water loads acting simultaneously. Buildings in V Zones are subject to a greater hazard than buildings constructed in other types of floodplains and have to be elevated above the BFE.
The Town of Hull was recently selected as a recipient of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) 2010 Walter B. Jones Memorial Award for Excellence in Local Government. The award was presented in recognition of the town’s efforts in coastal hazard management, with specific focus on their freeboard incentive program.
While the program is still new, and has only recently begun to spark interest with Hull’s citizens, Herbst is confident that as word spreads, more and more people will consider participating. As residents who choose to elevate their homes start seeing the benefits of such actions, their neighbors and friends will take notice.
“We’re starting to get great feedback on this program,” said Herbst. “We’ve received calls from other municipalities around the country interested in establishing their own incentive program. And it’s really starting to grab the interest of our residents. They’re taking note that, in this troubled financial climate, the town is willing to rebate money in order to encourage residents to protect their property and their lives. The rebate may not be large compared to the cost of elevating a home, but it encourages people to take flood risks more seriously than they otherwise would.”