Sec. 11.4.6. Limitation on Issuance of Permits for Construction in Floodprone Areas

  1. No building permit shall be issued for any and all new construction or substantial improvement of residential structures located or to be located in a SFHA, delineated as provided in Article 9.3.Special Flood Hazard Area Regulations, unless the lowest floor (including basement) and attendant mechanical, electrical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment, and any other service facility is elevated at least to the regulatory flood protection elevation. A registered professional engineer or architect shall certify on the building plans that all parts of the structure below the regulatory flood protection elevation are designed to withstand the flood depths, pressure, velocities, impact and uplift forces associated with the one-hundred-year flood at the location of the structure. All new construction and substantial improvements that fully enclose areas below the regulatory flood protection elevation which are usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage in an area other than a basement and which are subject to flooding shall be designed to automatically equalize hydrostatic flood forces on exterior walls by allowing for the entry and exit of flood waters. Designs for meeting this requirement must be certified by a registered professional engineer or architect. Prior to the use or occupancy of the structure, a registered land surveyor shall certify to the nearest 1/10 of 1 foot in mean sea level datum the elevation of the lowest floor.
  2. No building permit shall be issued for any and all new construction or substantial improvement of nonresidential structures or residential accessory structures located or to be located in a SFHA, delineated as provided in Article 9.3. Special  Flood Hazard Area Regulations, unless:
    1. The provisions of subsection A. above are met and attendant utility and sanitary facilities are floodproofed. Except in the case of accessory uses to dwellings with a cost of less than $5,000.00, prior to the use or occupancy of a structure, a registered land surveyor shall certify to the nearest 1/10 of 1 foot in mean sea level datum the elevations of the lowest floor; or
    2. The provisions for an essentially dry floodproof class (W2) contained in "Floodproofing Regulations," most recent edition, published by the Office of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C., are met. Except in the case of accessory uses to dwellings with a cost of less than $5,000.00, prior to the use or occupancy of a structure, a registered land surveyor shall certify to the nearest 1/10 of 1 foot in mean sea level datum the elevations of the lowest floor; or
    3. A registered professional engineer or architect certifies on the building plans that the walls and any parts of the structure below the regulatory flood protection elevation are substantially impermeable to the passage of water and that floodproofing methods used for a specified elevation in relation to mean sea level are adequate to withstand the flood depths, pressures, velocities, impact and uplift forces, and other factors associated with the 100-year flood at the location of the structure and that the structure is watertight, and attendant utility and sanitary facilities are floodproofed. Except in the case of accessory uses to dwellings with a cost of less than $5,000.00, prior to the use or occupancy of a structure, a registered land surveyor shall certify to the nearest 1/10 of 1 foot in mean sea level datum the elevations of the lowest floor; or
    4. For nonresidential structures only, a registered professional engineer or architect certifies on the building plans that the portions of any structure below the regulatory flood protection elevation comply with alternate wet floodproofing methods that are acceptable to FEMA as variances to the essentially dry floodproofing measures required in subsection B.2. above provided said alternate methods comply with the standards set forth in the FEMA Technical Standards Bulletin 85-1, and that such measures are adequate to withstand the flood depths pressures, velocities, impact and uplift forces and other factors associated with the one-hundred-year flood at the location of the structures and that the attendant utility and sanitary facilities are floodproofed and that the requirements for the issuance of the variance comply with the provisions of §44 CFR 60.6 of the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program and related regulations.
  3. The provisions of subsections A. and B. above shall be inapplicable to the following:
    1.  Any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violations of state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which have been identified by the local code enforcement official and which are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions.
    2. Any reconstruction, rehabilitation or restoration of structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the State inventory of historic places or certified by the secretary of the interior as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district; provided that, the alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as an historic structure.
  4. No permit authorized in this chapter shall be issued for new construction or substantial improvements located in a SFHA, delineated as provided in Article 9.3. Special Flood Hazard Area Regulations, unless all utility, water and sanitary facilities, mechanical, electrical, heating, ventilation, plumbing, and air conditioning equipment and other service systems are designed, located or both to prevent water from entering or accumulating within the components during conditions of flooding.
    1. All backflow preventers or devices must be installed on potable water service lines at all building entry locations to protect the system from backflow or back siphonage of floodwaters or other contaminants; such devices shall be installed within floodproofed structures or at an elevation 1 foot above the regulatory flood protection elevation;
    2. All sanitary sewer systems that have openings below the regulatory flood protection elevation shall be equipped with automatic backwater valves or other automatic backflow devices which are installed in each discharge line passing through a building exterior wall. Devices shall be installed at locations accessible for maintenance; and
    3. All sewer system vents, and nonwatertight manholes, shall be constructed to a height at least 1 foot above the regulatory flood protection elevation; provided nothing herein shall prevent the construction of watertight manholes below the regulatory flood protection elevation.