Chicopee, MA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

In the City of Chicopee, Massachusetts, base flood elevation is handled inside § 275-64, the Floodplain Overlay District of the Zoning Ordinance. The code defines base flood elevation as the elevation reached by the one-hundred-year flood, and defines the base flood as the one-hundred-year flood, the flood with a one-percent possibility of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. Boundaries follow the Hampden County Flood Insurance Rate Map and Flood Insurance Study report dated July 16, 2013.

Where data is required. Subsection B(2)(c) requires base flood elevation data for subdivision proposals or other developments greater than 50 lots or five acres, whichever is the lesser, within unnumbered A Zones. Where no base flood data has been provided under Subsection B, D(3) directs the Building Commissioner to obtain, review and reasonably utilize any base flood elevation data available from federal, state and other sources as the criteria for meeting the standards of the section.

Site plan requirements. Under G, a developer submits seven copies of a site plan at a scale of one inch equals 40 feet to the Department of Planning and Development. The plan shows lot locations, boundaries and dimensions, two-foot contours of the existing and proposed land structure, the base flood elevation, and the location of existing and proposed structures, watercourses, drainage easements, means of access, leaching fields, drainage and sewage disposal facilities. The Department forwards the plan to the City Engineer, Highway Department, Water Department, Electric Light Department and Conservation Commission. The Building Commissioner takes no final action until reports arrive or 15 days pass after receipt without a report. The City Engineer provides benchmarks when the Building Commissioner asks.

Records. Under G(3), the actual elevation, in relation to mean sea level, of the lowest floor and/or level of floodproofing, along with certification of floodproofing, is maintained by the Building Commissioner and is available for public inspection. The code defines floodproofed as watertight with walls substantially impermeable to the passage of water.

Floodway limits. In Zones A and AE, encroachments in a regulatory floodway are prohibited if they would increase flood levels during the base flood discharge. Section 275-64 prints no freeboard figure of its own; construction standards come through the floodplain sections of the State Building Code (780 CMR) that C(1)(a) makes binding.