Coastal South Carolina Community Rating System (CRS) Users Group | South Carolina Department of Environmental Services

Building community resilience to coastal hazards is a top priority for SCDES BCM. In addition to disaster resilience, stakeholder communities are becoming more aware of chronic hazards that are exacerbated by relative sea level rise, such as nuisance flooding and coastal erosion. Through the Local Comprehensive Beach Management Plan (LCBMP) process, SCDES BCM works with coastal counties and municipalities to develop and update plans that address a range of beachfront management issues, including the mitigation of coastal erosion and flood hazards that impact public infrastructure and private property.

In recent years, coastal communities have expressed a significant interest in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS). The CRS Program is a voluntary program that rewards communities that take a proactive approach to flood mitigation beyond minimum standards. Communities may garner points through a graduated scoring system that recognizes efforts to reduce flood damage to insurable property and encourage a comprehensive approach to floodplain management. Point accrual results in a reduction of flood insurance premiums among policyholders.

In 2016, in response to these community needs, SCDES BCM developed a Coastal Hazards Strategy under the NOAA Section 309 Coastal Zone Enhancement Program. Leveraging existing relationships with coastal municipal governments through the LCBMP planning process, SCDES BCM began to integrate CRS-based principles into the guidance and procedures for updating LCBMPs. As part of the Coastal Hazards Strategy, SCDES BCM established the Coastal South Carolina CRS Users Group to provide a forum for coastal communities to share lessons learned, identify best practices, and gain efficiencies in planning processes that result in hazard mitigation and realized cost savings. Meeting summaries associated with the CRS Users Group can be found below.

In 2018, SCDES BCM partnered with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to develop a South Carolina CRS Explorer application for 20 coastal communities in South Carolina. The application identifies land that currently qualifies for open space preservation (OSP) credit under Activity 420 and land that, with the appropriate protections, could qualify for OSP credit in the future. A user of the app is able to view these parcels on a map as well as get summary data including the community’s current class, current NFIP discount, impact adjusted special flood hazard area in acres, and acres and points available in the Open Space Preservation (422a) activity.