Tamarac, FL Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Tamarac Code § 8-48.2, adopted under the Broward County Administrative Provisions for the Florida Building Code, sets the city's additional elevation, or freeboard, rule for flood-hazard construction. The minimum lowest floor elevation, or level of dry floodproofing, of any residential, nonresidential, commercial, or industrial structure, equipment or mechanical item must sit at or above the highest of three separate benchmarks: the Florida Building Code elevation, which itself is one foot above the base flood elevation shown on the most recently adopted Flood Insurance Rate Map; the minimum floor elevation set in the South Florida Water Management District's surface water management permit for the site; and the elevation shown on the 100-year flood elevation map most recently prepared by the Broward County Transportation Department.

Builders must compare all three figures and design to whichever number sits highest, so a lot with a demanding water-management permit or transportation department map can face a stricter floor elevation than the Building Code minimum alone would require. Section 8-48.2(2) carves out an exception for repairs, additions or modifications to existing structures, letting that work proceed at or above the structure's existing lowest floor elevation without meeting the full freeboard standard, provided the work is not a substantial improvement as defined in § 8-47, meaning repair or improvement costing 50 percent or more of the structure's market value.

This freeboard requirement sits within Chapter 8's broader flood-resistant construction article, which also sets separate elevation and anchoring rules for manufactured homes under §§ 8-56 through 8-59 and accessory structures below base flood elevation under § 8-48.3.