Hollywood, FL Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

50(C)(1) sets Hollywood's specific flood-elevation construction standard, adopted pursuant to the Broward County Administrative Provisions for the Florida Building Code. New construction and substantial improvement of residential buildings must have the lowest floor, including any basement, elevated to or above whichever is higher: the elevation the Florida Building Code requires, or at least 18 inches above the highest point of the crown of the adjacent street, unless the Director of Public Utilities approves an alternative engineering analysis. Nonresidential buildings get a smaller add-on, at least six inches above the street crown, or dry-floodproofed to that level.

21 defines BASE FLOOD ELEVATION as the elevation of the base flood, including wave height, relative to NGVD, NAVD, or the datum shown on the FIRM, the reference point the street-crown add-on sits on top of. Finished lot grading also has to sit at or above the crown of the adjacent street or top of sidewalk, whichever is higher, and the perimeter grade around a residential building must be at least six inches below the minimum building elevation. Accessory structures used only for parking or storage can sit below base flood elevation in special flood hazard areas if they are one story, no larger than 600 square feet (100 square feet in coastal high hazard V-zones), built with flood-resistant materials below base flood elevation plus one foot, and have mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems elevated to at least one foot above base flood elevation.