Services

Certificates & Letters

Certificates and letters are sometimes required to ensure compliance with community ordinances.

• Elevation Certificate
• A form that is used by the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) to provide supplemental information to that found on a FIRM (Flood Insurance Rate Map)
• Used to provide a comparison of an actual elevation (determined by field measurement) to the Base Flood Elevation data that is associated with some Special Flood Hazard Areas
• An elevation certificate can be used to provide information necessary to ensure compliance with community floodplain management ordinances, to determine the proper flood insurance premium rate, and/or to support a request for a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Revision (LOMR)
• The certificates are required to rate certain flood insurance policies
• Grading Certificate
• Shows a rough estimate of direction of which the lot is graded
• Height Verification
• A Height Verification Letter measures the relative height of a structure in relation to the grade in the vicinty.
• Each municipality and or county defines the height of a building in different ways.
• Solar Height Verifications measure the vertical poistion of the "shadow casting elements" in relation to the grade below. The calculations for a solar shadow analysis are based upon the sun angle on the shortest day of the year at 10:00 am, 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm.
• LOMA Application
• Only a LOMA or LOMR from the Federal Emergency Management Agency can amend a Flood Insurance Rate Map
• Can remove the Federal requirement that a lending institution require the purchase of flood insurance
• Note that the lending institution may still require flood insurance without regard to the lack of a Federal requirement
• Setback Verification Letter
• Letter that verifies the setback from a structure to a published setback