Queen Anne's County, MD Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Chapter 14:3 defines base flood elevation as the water surface elevation of the base flood, the flood with a one-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year, in relation to the datum on the Flood Insurance Rate Map. In areas of shallow flooding, it is the highest adjacent natural grade elevation plus the FIRM depth number, or at least four feet if no depth number is specified. The flood protection elevation, also called the designated flood elevation or DFE, is that base flood elevation plus two feet of freeboard. The code describes freeboard as a factor of safety for uncertainties such as wave action, obstructed bridge openings, debris and ice jams, climate change, and the hydrologic effect of urbanization in a watershed.

In A Zones, § 14:3-41A requires the lowest floor of a residential structure to sit at or above the flood protection elevation or an elevation of seven feet, whichever is greater. In Zone AO shallow flooding, the lowest floor, including a basement, must be at least as high above the highest adjacent grade as the FIRM depth number plus two feet, or at least four feet if no depth number is specified. Nonresidential structures under § 14:3-42 must have the lowest floor, including basement, at or above the flood protection elevation, or use dry floodproofing to the flood protection elevation plus 1.0 foot, certified by a licensed professional engineer or architect. Floodproofing is not allowed for new nonresidential buildings in nontidal waters of the state or in Coastal A Zones.

In Coastal A Zones, § 14:3-49B requires the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural member to be at or above the flood protection elevation or seven feet, whichever is greater, or, if elevated on fill, the lowest floors one foot above the flood protection elevation or seven feet, whichever is greater. In V Zones, § 14:3-56B requires that member at or above the flood protection elevation. Basement floors below grade on all sides are prohibited in both. Critical and essential facilities outside V Zones must be elevated to the higher of the required elevation plus one foot, the building code elevation, or the two-tenths-percent chance (five-hundred-year) flood elevation (§ 14:3-33).