BY PAUL C. CURTISTGI Staff Writer
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LIHU’E – Kaua’i County is the first municipality in the country to give

residents property tax breaks for adding hurricane-resistant rooms to their

homes.

A sporty steel model which can double as a storage shed in calm

weather and be erected in one afternoon can be yours for between $4,000 and

$8,000.

And an average homeowner can save between $150 and $200 on his tax

bill by installing a “safe room” within a home, if it meets county

specifications.

The county’s trailblazing has gained the attention of James

Witt, director of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). Witt mentioned

the County Council and Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s initiative at a Project Impact

Summit in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, according to Mark Marshall,

Kaua’i Civil Defense administrator.

Marshall said 1,600 people attended the

summit. Project Impact is a FEMA effort to encourage communities and

individuals to prevent or minimizing damage in the case of catastrophic

weather. Federal studies show that for every dollar spent in mitigation

efforts, $2 is saved through less property damage after a tornado, hurricane,

flooding or other act of God.

On Kaua’i, some homeowners may qualify for

county loans to assist in the installation of safe rooms, with money at between

1 percent and 5 percent interest.

A pair of FEMA publications have

information on specifications for qualifying safe rooms. The first is “Taking

Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House” (FEMA

Publication 320), which can be downloaded (minus construction plans offered in

the printed version) from www.fema.gov/mit/tsfs01.htm. It can also be ordered

complete by calling FEMA toll-free at 1-888-565-3896.

The complete document

includes basics of in-house safe-room shelter design, construction plans,

materials and mainland construction-cost estimates.

The other document is

FEMA Publication 361, the first edition of “Design and Construction Guidance

for Community Shelters.” It also describes shelters “intended to provide

near-absolute protection from the high winds expected during tornadoes and

hurricanes and from associated flying debris, such as wood studs, that

tornadoes and hurricanes usually create,” according to the FEMA Web site.

Unlike the small, in-residence shelters addressed by FEMA 320, the

shelters described in FEMA 361 are designed to protect large numbers of people,

such as occupants of an office building or the residents of a

community.

Residential safe rooms in most cases mandate new construction,

according to Doug Haigh, chief of the Department of Public Works’ Building

Division.

A claim form for safe-room exemption is available at the county

Department of Finance Real Property Assessment Division, for rooms in homes not

in tsunami inundation, flood or surge zones, or portions of the island

susceptible to flooding, explained Eugene Jimenez, deputy director of

finance.

A certification of design and construction, signed by a licensed

architect or structural engineer, is needed to let the county know that the

safe room is, indeed, safe, Haigh said.

Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis

can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).