Georgetown, KY Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Section 18-87 applies in every special flood hazard area where base flood elevation data have been provided under § 18-7. The Georgetown standard is a two-foot freeboard. New construction and substantial improvement of a residential structure, manufactured homes included, needs its lowest floor, including the basement, mechanical equipment and ductwork, elevated no lower than two feet above the base flood elevation.

The code then sorts by zone. In an AO zone the lowest floor goes above the highest adjacent grade to a height equal to or higher than the depth number in feet printed on the FIRM, or at least two feet above the highest adjacent grade if no depth number is specified. In an A zone where FEMA has produced no technical data, the floodplain administrator decides how the base flood elevation is determined, using detailed hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, existing data from other sources, approximate methods, historical data, or best supportable and reasonable judgment, and the lowest floor still goes no lower than two feet above that elevation. In all other zones the same two feet applies, and once the structure is complete a registered professional engineer or surveyor certifies the lowest floor elevation and the community building inspection department verifies it. Both the certification and the verification go to the floodplain administrator.

Non-residential buildings meet the same elevation or are floodproofed to two feet above the base flood elevation so the structure is watertight with walls substantially impermeable to water. Structural components must resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads and the effects of buoyancy and debris, and a registered professional engineer or architect certifies the work and supplies design and operational maintenance plans to the floodplain administrator. Fully enclosed areas below the lowest floor that are used solely for parking, building access or storage must be built of flood resistant materials to two feet above the base flood elevation.

Flood openings need at least two openings with a total net area of not less than one square inch for every square foot of enclosed area, with the bottom of each no higher than one foot above foundation interior grade (§ 18-87(3)). In an existing manufactured home park, a home can instead sit on a chassis supported by reinforced piers at least 36 inches above the highest adjacent grade (§ 18-87(4)c). Other two-foot rules: critical facilities in the SFHA need the lowest floor elevated two feet or more above the base flood elevation (§ 18-92), and accessory structures in A zones need flood-resistant materials and utilities two feet above it (§ 18-91).