Mebane, NC Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

UDO Section 5-6, the Flood Hazard Overlay District, applies inside the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction under Section 1-4 and was most recently amended June 3, 2024 and December 8, 2025. Section 5-6.2 defines the Regulatory Flood Protection Elevation (RFPE) as the Base Flood Elevation plus two feet of freeboard, or two feet above the highest adjacent grade where FEMA has not set a BFE. Section 5-6.7(B) turns that number into a construction rule: new construction and substantial improvement of any residential structure, including manufactured homes, must have its reference level, including the basement, elevated no lower than the RFPE.

Commercial, industrial and other non-residential structures face the same elevation floor, though structures in Zones A, AE, AH, AO and A99 may floodproof to the RFPE instead if a registered professional engineer or architect certifies the design as watertight. Manufactured homes must be elevated so the reference level meets the RFPE and anchored per the North Carolina Regulations for Manufactured Homes; a chassis elevated more than 36 inches above grade needs an engineered foundation. No development may begin in a Special Flood Hazard Area without a zoning or special use permit from the Zoning Administrator under Section 5-6.4, who requires an Elevation Certificate, FEMA Form 086-0-33, before construction starts, again within seven calendar days of the reference level being set, and a final as-built certificate before a Certificate of Compliance or Occupancy is issued. Variance requests go to the Board of Adjustment under Section 8-2(B), with judicial review available under Section 11-7.