The impact of flood insurance on development in Ocean City, Maryland

Abstract

Ocean City, Maryland, witnessed a period of development that began in the early 1960s and ended in the 1980s concurrent to the passing, adoption, and implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program. Although the development happened at the same time as the passage and upcoming of the NFIP in Ocean City, a causal relationship cannot be determined between the two. People did not necessarily buy condominiums strictly because they could now have government subsidized flood insurance. Even though all of Ocean City, Maryland was in a flood plain, it seemed that people might have been purchasing their condominiums because they wanted to own a piece of beachfront property. Tourism and recreation were also contributing factors to the development boom of this period. It cannot be proven that they were buying simply because they could rebuild cheaply with government help. Oral histories, government documents, and newspaper articles of the period suggest that the nature of the relationship may actually be the reverse. Many people in large cities such as Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. had the financial luxury of affording beachfront/oceanside property.