Glynn County, GA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Section 2-5-137 of the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance governs Areas of Special Flood Hazard designated A1-30, AE, AH, or A with an estimated base flood elevation (BFE). Under paragraph (a), new construction and substantial improvement of any structure or manufactured home must have the lowest floor, including a basement, elevated no lower than one foot above the BFE, the county's local freeboard above the FEMA minimum. Where solid foundation perimeter walls are used to reach that elevation, the wall must include flood vents sized under § 2-5-136(d): a minimum of two openings totaling at least one square inch of net area per square foot of enclosed area below the lowest floor, with the bottom of every opening no higher than one foot above grade.

Heating and air conditioning equipment, ductwork, electrical, ventilation and plumbing components must also sit at or above that same one-foot freeboard. Non-residential structures may be flood-proofed instead of elevated under § 2-5-137(b), but only if a registered professional engineer or architect certifies the structure is watertight to one foot above the BFE and can resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads. Manufactured homes and recreational vehicles placed in these zones face the identical one-foot-above-BFE floor requirement under § 2-5-137(c). The Building Official records the certified elevation in the permit file under § 2-5-135(e), and floodways within these same zones bar any encroachment, including fill, unless engineering data proves no increase in flood levels.