Environmental Rules in Dukes County, MA (2026)

Flood Zones

Dukes County (Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands) is a low-lying Atlantic island county with extensive VE coastal high-hazard zones, AE riverine and tidal floodplains, barrier beaches, salt ponds, and accelerating sea-level rise. FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for the Vineyard towns were updated in the 2014-2016 cycle (Edgartown's effective boundaries adopted by the town in 2016). Floodplain construction is enforced town-by-town under the 9th Edition Massachusetts State Building Code 780 CMR (R322 / Appendix G), which incorporates ASCE 24-14 and requires Design Flood Elevation = Base Flood Elevation + 2 feet of freeboard (and higher in V Zones and Coastal A Zones with breakaway walls and pile foundations). The Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act (M.G.L. c. 131 sec. 40) and 310 CMR 10.00 add a parallel layer of permitting through each town's Conservation Commission. Five of the six Island towns (Aquinnah, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, West Tisbury) participate in the National Flood Insurance Program; Chilmark does not participate. The Martha's Vineyard Commission's Coastal Resilience Initiative uses Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) projections and has mapped 716 storm tide pathways across the Island.