Norwalk, CT Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Code § 118-1100C(5)(a) sets the freeboard standard for residential construction in Zone AE: the lowest floor, including basement, must be elevated to or above the base flood elevation (BFE) plus 1 foot, and electrical, plumbing, machinery or other utility equipment servicing the structure must be elevated the same 1 foot above the BFE. Nonresidential structures under § 118-1100C(5)(b) get an alternative: elevate the lowest floor 1 foot above the BFE, or dry-floodproof the structure to that same elevation with watertight walls and components engineered to resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads, certified on FEMA's Floodproofing Certificate, Form 81-65.

The general utility-equipment rule in § 118-1100C(3)(b) reaches every flood zone: the bottom of all electrical, heating, plumbing, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, including furnaces, oil or propane tanks, air conditioners, heat pumps and hot water heaters, must sit at the base flood elevation plus 1 foot. In the higher-hazard VE and Coastal AE zones, § 118-1100C(6)(b) pushes the same 1-foot freeboard onto the structure's lowest horizontal structural member, which must be elevated on pilings or columns to or above the BFE plus 1 foot, with the space beneath left open and free of obstruction.

Zone A, where no detailed base flood elevation study exists yet, applies the identical BFE-plus-1-foot standard for residential lowest floors under § 118-1100C(4)(a), based on whatever federal, state or other elevation data is available.