Taylor, MI Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Sec. 8-21, titled 'Designations of regulated flood-prone hazard areas,' adopts by reference the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Flood Insurance Study for 'Wayne County, Michigan (All Jurisdictions),' dated December 2, 2013, along with a specific list of Flood Insurance Rate Map panel numbers: 26263C, 0244E, 0263E, 0382E, 0383E, 0384E, 0391E, 0392E, 0401E, 0403E and 0411E, dated February 12, 2012, plus panel numbers 26163C, 0243F and 0381F, dated December 3, 2013. The section states that these documents are adopted for the purposes of administering the Michigan Construction Code and are declared to be part of Section 1612.3 of the Michigan Building Code, the provision that governs flood-resistant construction, and also to provide the content of the 'Flood Hazards' section of Table R301.2(1) of the Michigan Residential Code, which sets design criteria by geographic area.

Rather than writing its own freeboard or elevation number, Taylor's ordinance works by incorporating FEMA's maps directly into the state building and residential codes the city already enforces through Sec. 8-19, so any specific elevation or construction standard for a given parcel is read off the referenced FIRM panel and FIS study rather than off a locally-drafted number. Sec. 8-19 designates the city's building official as the enforcing agency for the underlying state construction code, so the same office that issues building permits applies the flood-hazard designations from Sec. 8-21 when a project falls inside a mapped flood-prone area.