James City County, VA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Sec. 24-595, Regulations for Construction, sets the finished elevation of the lowest floor, including any basement or cellar, at least two feet of freeboard above the one percent annual chance (100-year) base flood elevation. Nonresidential buildings, other than accessory structures meeting the separate standard in Sec. 24-595(a)(9), can substitute dry floodproofing to that same two-foot mark under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code instead of raising the finished floor. Mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems and gas lines have to be floodproofed to the same two feet of freeboard above base flood elevation, and in Zones V, VE and Coastal A the lowest horizontal structural member itself must clear the base flood level by two feet on pilings or columns anchored against flotation and lateral movement.

Accessory structures can skip the freeboard standard only if they stay out of the floodway, are capped at 600 square feet, are built of flood-damage-resistant material, are anchored against flotation, and carry flood openings sized at one square inch of net opening per square foot of enclosed area. Before the director of building safety and permits will sign off on a certificate of occupancy, Sec. 24-595(b) and (a)(8) require the property owner to submit a completed elevation certificate or floodproofing certificate from a registered professional engineer or architect.

All construction methods also have to meet the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code's own flood-damage-resistance and anchoring requirements. The same general zoning penalty in Sec. 24-22, incorporated by Sec. 00, repeatable every 30 days the violation continues uncorrected.