Bonita Springs get $5M for voluntary home buyout program

Bonita Springs is getting $5 million from the State of Florida to buy homes in flood-prone neighborhoods through a voluntary buyout program.

The state is doling out more than $44 million to communities flooded by the heavy rains of Hurricane Irma in 2017. Jacksonville and Monroe and Miami-Dade counties are included in the list of 11 local governments getting money from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

More than 70 homeowners in Bonita Springs applied for the city's buyout program. . The application deadline was Oct. 1. After selected, a property appraiser will give a fair market value for homes before they flooded in 2017, according to the city.

Bonita Springs cannot sell land obtained through buyouts. The city must “maintain (the property) in perpetuity for open space, recreation, wetland or flood control," according to the program's website.

The Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program, which is providing the $5 million, is designed to help reduce the impact of future disasters in high-risk flood areas, according to a news release from the governor’s office.