Dade City, FL Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Chapter 50, the Floodplain Management Ordinance adopted by Ord. No. 2014-07 on August 12, 2014, designates the Dade City Building Official as floodplain administrator under § 50-14. When a parcel sits in an "approximate zone A" area, meaning it's delineated on the FIRM but FEMA hasn't published a base flood elevation for it, § 50-32 gives the administrator a sequence of options: require the applicant to supply engineering-based elevation data, obtain and use available federal or state data, or, where no reliable data exists, treat two feet above the highest adjacent grade as the base flood elevation, provided there's no evidence flood depths could run deeper.

If an applicant's data will be submitted to FEMA to change the map, the analysis must be prepared by a Florida-licensed engineer in FEMA's required format, with the applicant covering submittal and processing fees under § 50-32(4). This determination controls real construction decisions: lowest-floor elevation certifications required under §§ 50-37 through 50-40 for buildings exempt from the Florida Building Code are measured against whatever base flood elevation gets established this way, and § 50-31 requires site plans to delineate base flood elevations and flood zone boundaries before a permit issues.

The chapter's variance process runs through the development review committee under §§ 50-41 through 50-48, with a further appeal path to the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Pasco County.