D. Procedures for
Determining Destroyed Beyond Repair (Section
48-39-290(B).
(1) The Department shall be required to make
a determination as to whether or not a structure is destroyed beyond repair
under Section
48-39-290
in any of the following cases:
(a) Upon the
written request of an owner of the structure or local government
official;
(b) Upon its own
election;
(c) As part of a damage
assessment effort conducted solely by the Department or in cooperation with a
local government in response to an emergency situation.
(2) The Department shall provide a copy of
its determination of whether a structure is destroyed beyond repair to the
property owner and the local government with jurisdiction over such
structure.
(3) The Department shall
employ the following procedures in determining whether a structure is destroyed
beyond repair: See also R.30-14(D)(4) and (5).
(a) Habitable Structure:
(i) Following a natural disaster, the
Department shall coordinate a post-storm damage appraisal with the affected
unit of local governments. Pursuant to Section
48-39-270(11)
the Department staff shall make the initial damage appraisal. When appropriate,
the Department may use the property owner's insurance adjustor's figures to
determine the damage.
(ii) If an
owner disagrees with the appraisal of the Department, he may obtain a second
appraisal to evaluate the damage to the building. An owner who disagrees with
the appraisal of the Department must notify the Department in writing, within
90 days of receipt of the Department's determination that he intends to obtain
an appraisal. If the two appraisals differ, then the two appraisers must select
a third appraiser. If the two appraisers are unable to select a third
appraiser, the Clerk of Court of the county in which the structure lies must
make the selection. All third appraisers must be registered, professional
engineers, registered architects or licensed adjustors. All third appraisers
must not have been involved in either the insurance adjustment of the property
or the first or second appraisal and the cost of the third appraisal will be
divided equally between the Department and the property owner. In no event may
the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing (other than emergency repairs)
a structure until the appraisal process described herein has been completed.
Nothing in this section prevents a court of competent jurisdiction from
reviewing, de novo, the appraisal upon the petition of the property
owner.
(b) Pools:
(i) Following a natural disaster, the
Department shall coordinate a post-storm damage assessment with the affected
unit of local government. Pursuant to Section
48-39-270(11)
the Department shall make the initial assessment.
(ii) If an owner disagrees with the appraisal
of the Department, he may obtain an appraisal to evaluate the damage to the
pool. An owner who disagrees with the appraisal of the Department must notify
the Department in writing, within 90 days of receipt of the Department's
determination, that the owner intends to obtain an appraisal. If the two
appraisals differ, then the two appraisers must select a third appraiser. If
the two appraisers are unable to select a third appraiser, the Clerk of Court
of the county where the pool lies must make the selection. All third appraisers
must be registered, professional engineers and the cost of the third appraisal
will be equally divided between the Department and the property owner. In no
event may the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing a pool (other than
emergency repairs) until the appraisal process described herein has been
completed. Nothing in this section prevents a court of competent jurisdiction
from reviewing, de novo, the appraisal upon the petition of the property
owner.
(c) Seawalls and
Bulkheads: In determining whether a seawall or bulkhead as defined in Section
48-39-270(1)(a) and
(b) is destroyed more than eighty percent
above grade through June 30, 1995, more than sixty-six and two thirds percent
above grade from July 1, 1995, through June 30, 2005, and more than fifty
percent above grade after June 30, 2005, the damage assessment shall be
accomplished as follows:
(i) Damage to
seawalls and bulkheads will be judged on the percent of the structure remaining
intact at the time of damage assessment. The portion of the structure or device
above grade parallel to the shoreline must be evaluated. The length of the
structure or device parallel to the shoreline still intact must be compared to
the length of the structure or device parallel to the shoreline which has been
destroyed. The length of the structure or device parallel to the shoreline
determined to be destroyed divided by the total length of the original
structure or device parallel to the shoreline yields the percent destroyed.
Those portions of the structure or device standing, cracked or broken piles,
whalers, and panels must be assessed on an individual basis to ascertain if
these components are repairable or if replacement is required.
(ii) If the property owner disagrees with the
assessment of a registered professional engineer acting on behalf of the
Department, he may obtain an assessment by a registered professional engineer
to evaluate, in the same manner set forth herein, the damage to the structure
or device. An owner who disagrees with the assessment of the Department must
notify the Department in writing, within 90 days of receipt of the Department's
determination, that he intends to obtain an independent assessment. If the two
assessments differ, then the two engineers who performed the assessment must
select a registered professional engineer to perform the third assessment. If
the first two engineers are unable to select an engineer to perform the third
assessment, the Clerk of Court of the county where the structure or device lies
must make the selection of a registered professional engineer. The cost of the
third engineer will be equally divided between the Department and the property
owner. The determination of the percentage of damage by the third engineer is
conclusive. In no event may the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing a
seawall or bulkhead until the appraisal process described herein has been
completed. The determination of the degree of destruction must be made on a lot
by lot basis by reference to county tax maps.
(d) Revetments: Revetments must be judged on
the extent of displacement of the stone, the effort to return these stones to
the pre-storm event configuration of the structure or device, and the ability
of the revetment to retain backfill material at the time of the damage
assessment. If the property owner disagrees with the assessment of a registered
professional engineer acting on behalf of the Department, he may obtain an
assessment by a different registered professional engineer to evaluate, as set
forth in this item, the damage to the structure or device. An owner who
disagrees with the appraisal of the Department must notify the Department in
writing, within 90 days of receipt of the Department's determination, that the
owner intends to obtain an appraisal. If the two assessments differ, then the
two engineers who performed the assessment must select a registered
professional engineer to perform the third assessment. If the first two
engineers are unable to select an engineer to perform the third assessment, the
Clerk of Court of the county where the structure or device lies must make the
selection of a registered professional engineer. The cost of the third engineer
will be equally divided between the Department and the property owner. The
determination of the percentage of damage by the third engineer is conclusive.
In no event may the property owner begin rebuilding or repairing a structure
until the appraisal process described herein has been completed. The
determination of the degree of destruction must be made on a lot by lot basis
by reference to county tax maps.
(4) Inventory: The following steps will be
taken by the Department in order to insure accurate and expeditious damage
appraisals can be conducted when necessary.
(a) Structures which are affected by the
setback line will be identified. If the line touches any part of the structure
or an attached deck, the structure is considered affected by the destroyed
beyond repair provisions of the Act and additional information must be
collected. By community (city, county) a list (addresses and tax map numbers)
of each structure that touches the baseline and setback line will be
prepared.
(b) Staff will prepare an
inventory file for all structures subject to the Department regulation within
their assigned community. The file will contain information relative to the
location, ownership, persons to contact, and assessed value of the property,
and a recent photograph of the front and rear sides of the structure. The
completion of this task should include an inventory of swimming pools and
erosion control devices where possible. An inventory of vertical erosion
control devices should include a measurement of the parallel length of the
structure and the elevation of the top of the structure. An inventory of a
revetment will require that the seaward slope of the structure be determined by
pulling a tape from the highest crest stone to the top of a representative toe
stone. This is to be referred to as a revetment transect. Revetment transects
are to begin at the northern property line and are to be repeated every 20 feet
across the revetment to the southern property line. The frequency of these
transects may be intensified to every 10 feet to encompass high or low extremes
in the rock elevations. A schematic drawing shall depict the revetment by its
transects. Beside each transect shall appear the letters (A) for adequate stone
amounts, (D) for deficient stone amounts, and (S) for surplus stone amounts.
Combinations of these letters on one transect will be separated by a short line
that will distinguish one depiction from the other along the transect. The
elevation of the top of the revetment must also be included.
(c) For habitable structures, the base value
of each affected structure will be determined by consulting the tax appraisal
records for each county. The values used by the Department will only be the
assessed value for the structures on the lot and will not contain any land
values. The Damage Assessment Coordinator will maintain a master list of all
impacted structures.
(d) The staff
person assigned the assessment responsibility for a particular beach community
will periodically review the assessment sheets and coordinate with local
communities. Assessments will be updated annually or as staff reassignments are
made.
(e) Immediately after a
damage incurring situation, the staff person will take the damage assessment
file, preliminary damage evaluation forms for one and two story structures, and
a camera and make a site visit to each property in their assigned area. The
properties will be photographed and a preliminary evaluation completed for each
property. This evaluation will be used to separate the properties into three
categories: minor damage, possible destroyed beyond repair, and completely
destroyed. At this time the person doing the assessment will try and locate any
houses missing from foundations, and note any problems with the assessment
process. Structures that are identified as having minor damage will be counted,
the addresses and tax map numbers verified and a list compiled to be given to
the Department offices and the local building official so that authorizations
to make repairs can be issued promptly.
(f) The structures that are identified as
possibly destroyed beyond repair will be listed, addresses verified and
duplicate copies of the assessment sheets sent to the Department
offices.
(5) Damage
Assessment:
(a) Habitable Structures and
Pools:
(i) The Damage Assessment Coordinator
will assign properties determined from the preliminary survey to be possibly
destroyed beyond repair to an insurance adjuster, or in the case of pools an
engineer, who is under contract to the Department. The adjuster/engineer will
make arrangements with the owner of the property to visit the site and prepare
an estimate of the cost of repairing the structure to its previously existing
condition. In the case of pools, the damage estimate will be determined by the
sum of the following costs:
(1) The area of
damaged walls and floor, multiplied by the unit replacement costs for the walls
and floor;
(2) Demolition and
removal costs;
(3) Site preparation
costs.
This estimate will be based on the amount of damage to various
components of the structure, and the unit cost of repairing each component as
supplied by a nationally recognized estimating firm.
(ii) The Damage Assessment
Coordinator will compare the repair estimates with the base value figures. In
the case of habitable structures, the base value is obtained from the tax
assessor or other sources deemed credible by the Department. The base value for
a pool can be obtained from any of the following sources: 1) Bills and invoices
submitted to the pool owner at the time of pool installation; 2) tax assessment
figures; 3) estimate based on the size of the pool and the unit cost of pool
construction as supplied by a nationally recognized estimating firm; 4) any
other information that is determined to be reliable by the Damage Assessment
Coordinator. If the repair cost is greater than 66 2/3% of the base value, the
structure will be determined to be destroyed beyond repair (DBR).
(iii) A list of those structures that are
repairable and those that are DBR will be maintained and distributed daily to
the Department field offices. Authorization to repair buildings not DBR can be
made as soon as the assessment process is completed. The owners of properties
listed as DBR will be notified by letter by the Permitting Staff. All records
and files pertaining to the buildings listed as DBR will be turned over to the
Department's legal staff as soon as the process is completed. There will be no
reassessments by the Department unless there is intervening damage.
(b) Erosion Control Devices
(i) Vertical walls: The following percentages
will be used when conducting the destroyed beyond repair assessments for
vertical walls: 1) pilings - 20%, 2) whalers - 20%, 3) panels - 60%. On walls
with no whalers incorporated into the design, the percentage is to be 25% for
the pilings and 75% for the panels. A vertical wall will be considered
functional if it is no more than 2 feet out of alignment or 30 degrees,
whichever is less. For concrete walls which have only one component, the intact
portion above grade, parallel to the shoreline will be compared to the original
shore parallel portion of the wall to determine if the structure is damaged
beyond repair.
(ii) Revetments: To
determine if a revetment is destroyed beyond repair, revetment transects must
be conducted as described in the inventory section, R.30-14(D)(4). The
post-damage transects will be compared to the original revetment configuration.
If the revetment has slumped or stone been lost to the extent that the
percentage of damaged revetment exceeds the percentages allowed in
R.30-13(N)(3)(e),
the structure is destroyed beyond repair.
(iii) Those structures which are a
combination of vertical wall fronted by rock revetment will be assessed using
both the method for evaluating walls and the method for evaluating revetments.
The percent of the wall which is destroyed will be determined then multiplied
by 50%. Likewise, the percentage of the revetment which is destroyed will be
determined and then multiplied by 50%. The sum of the two damaged percentages
is the percent of the complete structure which is destroyed beyond
repair.
(iv) The determination of
the percent of damage to an erosion control structure must be made on a lot by
lot basis as referenced by county tax maps which existed on May 23,
1993.
(v) Effective date of damage
appraisals: All appraisals are effective for 90 days from the date all
concerned parties agree on the appraisal, unless otherwise determined by the
Department. If the structure sustains additional damage prior to the 90 day
time limit, the Department may require a new assessment. If no work has begun
during that 90 days, a new damage appraisal may be required before the
Department will issue another permit or release letter.