Craighead County, AR Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

00 of the Craighead County Code sets the procedures and minimum design standards a developer must meet before a road or subdivision is accepted into the county road system, and its flood hazard areas provision, item (16), applies to that subdivision process. The county defines a flood hazard area as one subject to a base flood as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and identified on FEMA's Flood Insurance Rate Map. Two hard rules follow from that determination. First, no plat of a subdivision can be approved if it contains lots or building sites located in the floodway itself, the channel and adjacent area that carries floodwaters during a base flood.

Second, when a land development contains portions of the floodplain outside the floodway, that area must be clearly delineated on the plat, and no structure can be built there unless the base flood elevation has been certified and approved by the county and the structure's finished floor sits at least one foot above that certified base flood elevation. This freeboard requirement is reviewed as part of the county's Preliminary Plat and Detailed Construction Plan approval process, administered by the County Judge with input from the Quorum Court Road Committee, before any final plat can be filed with the Circuit Clerk. 00.