Muncie, IN Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Muncie City Code Section 159.05 defines the flood protection grade, or FPG, as the elevation of the regulatory flood plus two feet at any location in a special flood hazard area, and defines the related term freeboard as a factor of safety, expressed in feet above the base flood elevation, used to compensate for the many unknown factors that could push actual flood heights above the calculated base flood. Section 159.20(2)(c) applies that standard to construction: new construction or substantial improvement of a residential structure must have its lowest floor, including any basement, at or above the flood protection grade, meaning two feet above the base flood elevation.

If solid foundation perimeter walls are used to elevate the structure, additional flood-opening standards apply so floodwaters can move through the enclosed space, and structures built on fill must meet separate fill-related standards in the same section. Nonresidential structures get an alternative under Section 159.20(3)(b): they may either elevate the lowest floor to the flood protection grade or be floodproofed to that same elevation, with the design certified by a registered professional engineer or architect. The floodplain administrator, the city's zoning administrator under Section 159.16, verifies and records the elevation of the lowest floor of new and substantially improved structures as part of permit review, and appeals or variance requests go to the Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals.