Osceola County, FL Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Osceola County Code Section 5-60 locally amends the Florida Building Code, and one of those amendments rewrites Section R322.2.1, Elevation Requirements, for the county. Buildings in Zone A (including AE and unnumbered A zones) and Coastal A Zones must elevate their lowest floor to the base flood elevation plus one foot, or to the design flood elevation, whichever is higher. In AO zones (shallow flooding), the lowest floor must sit as high above the highest adjacent grade as the depth number printed on the FIRM, or at least 2 feet if no depth number is shown. Basement floors that are below grade on all sides must also clear base flood elevation plus one foot.

The county layers its own certification step on top of the state standard. Section 5-60(a)(1) requires a Florida-registered land surveyor to certify the top elevation of the form boards or stemwall for every Group R-3 building in the urban service area: not less than 24 inches above the centerline grade of the front street, or 18 inches for lots that had final construction plan approval before August 7, 1995. The county engineer will not authorize any inspection beyond the slab inspection until that survey is accepted, though a hardship exception lets the engineer modify the requirement where topography makes strict compliance impractical.

Section 104.10.1 requires the Building Official to coordinate with the Floodplain Administrator before granting any modification of these flood-resistant construction rules, and Section 107.6.1 bars affidavit-based permitting (allowed elsewhere under NFIP rule 44 C.F.R. Sections 59 and 60) from ever substituting for the flood load requirements. Variances go to the Board of Adjustment under Section 117, following the procedures in the county's local floodplain management ordinance under F.S. § 553.73(5); that variance path does not reach Section 3109 exceptions.