Dothan, AL Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Sec. 42-26 defines base flood elevation as the surface water elevation from a flood with a one percent annual chance of being equaled or exceeded, shown on the FIRM for zones such as AE, AH and A1 through A30, and defines freeboard as a safety factor expressed in feet above that flood level meant to cover unknowns like wave action, bridge openings and the effect of watershed urbanization that a bare BFE number does not capture. Sec. 42-97(b) gives nonresidential structures an alternative: dry floodproofing to the same one-foot-above-BFE design flood elevation instead of physical elevation, but only with a professional engineer's or architect's certification licensed in Alabama.

Manufactured homes get their own version of the same rule under Sec. 42-97(c): the lowest floor must sit one foot or more above the BFE on a permanent, anchored foundation. Where no BFE data exists at all, Sec. 42-98(d) substitutes a flat three-foot elevation above the highest adjacent grade, rising to four feet once the article's normal one-foot freeboard is factored in. Critical facilities such as hospitals and fire stations face a tougher standard still under Sec. 42-101(a): three feet above the base flood elevation.

Sec. 42-67(g) requires the floodplain administrator to verify and record the actual lowest floor elevation using a FEMA elevation certificate, with the post-construction certificate kept in the permit file in perpetuity and reviewed for corrections before it is accepted.