Stonecrest, GA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Two sections of the floodplain management article set Stonecrest's elevation standard. Section 14-428 imposes a 'no-rise' baseline: no development is allowed within the future-conditions floodplain that would raise the base flood elevation or future-conditions flood elevation by 0.01 foot or more, reduce base flood or future-conditions flood storage capacity, change the depth or velocity of floodwaters at the upstream or downstream boundary of the development, or create hazardous or erosion-producing velocities. Any development that clears that no-rise bar must still meet compensation, cut-slope, and utility-siting conditions in § 14-428(b), and any significant physical change to the base flood floodplain must be submitted to FEMA as a conditional letter of map revision or amendment, with the applicant responsible for FEMA follow-through and for submitting as-built surveys for a final letter of map revision within six months of completing construction.

Section 14-429 then sets the freeboard itself: once the § 14-427/14-428/14-439 study and no-rise requirements are satisfied, new construction and substantial improvements of residential principal buildings, including manufactured homes, must have the lowest floor, including the basement, elevated no lower than three feet above the base flood elevation or one foot above the future-conditions flood elevation, whichever is higher. Nonresidential buildings need only clear one foot above the base flood elevation or the future-conditions elevation, whichever is higher, and may floodproof to that height in place of elevating, provided a registered professional engineer or architect certifies the design as watertight and structurally capable of resisting hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads. Solid perimeter foundation walls used to elevate a structure must include flood-vent openings sized under § 14-429(b)(3)(iii) to equalize hydrostatic pressure.