Open Space and Hard Work Win a 15% Savings on Flood Insurance

Thanks to Charlestown’s past efforts to preserve land as open space and Building Official Joe Warner’s recent hard work to make a winning application to FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System (CRS), Charlestown home owners and businesses can receive a 15 percent discount on flood insurance.

The discounts are expected to be available in May, but to get the discount residents must contact their insurance companies, tell them their property is located in Charlestown, and that Charlestown is in the CRS program and that the property is eligible for the  discount.

The application to FEMA required detailed mapping, documentation on building codes, flood protection, hazard disclosure, flood-maintenance data and open-space preservation. In the open-space preservation category the town received high marks. CRS credit is given for communities that preserve significant portions of flood-hazard area as open space.

There’s more information in a recent Westerly Sun Article