Kent County, DE Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Section 188-5B(1) sets Kent County's freeboard, the safety margin the code layers on top of the base flood elevation to absorb wave action, debris, ice jams and the effect of upstream development the County can't yet see. Outside Zone AO, the rule is flat: the lowest floor, including a basement, must be 18 inches above the base flood elevation established on the Kent County Flood Insurance Rate Map. In Zone AO's areas of shallow flooding, the floor instead has to clear the highest adjacent grade by the depth number printed on the map plus 18 inches, or by two feet plus 18 inches if the map lists no depth number, and the site must include drainage paths that steer floodwater around the building.

New or substantially improved manufactured homes carry the identical 18-inch-above-base-flood-elevation standard under § 188-5B(3), set on a permanent, reinforced foundation and anchored against flotation and lateral movement. Any enclosure built below that elevated lowest floor, for parking, building access or storage, must use flood-damage-resistant materials and carry at least two flood openings on different walls sized to one square inch of net opening per square foot of enclosed area, with the bottom of each opening no more than one foot above grade, so floodwater can enter and exit automatically.

Coastal high-hazard Zone VE properties instead follow the separate elevation standards of § 188-6, not this section. A structure that cannot produce the required elevation certificate is presumed noncompliant under the chapter's definition of 'violation' until the owner supplies it.