Warwick, RI Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Section 8-5 establishes the city's floodplain overlay district covering all zones A, AE, AH, AO, A99, V, and VE mapped on the Kent County Flood Insurance Rate Map administered by FEMA, using panels dated as recently as October 2, 2015. Any proposed construction or other development inside a special flood hazard area, not just building work but filling, grading, excavation, mining, drilling, or storage of materials, requires a permit before work starts, and applicants must first show that every other required federal or state approval, including from the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council or the Department of Environmental Management, has been obtained.

In AO zones, the code sets a concrete elevation floor: a residential structure's lowest floor must sit at least as high as the FIRM's depth number above the highest adjacent grade, and where the FIRM lists no depth number, the minimum is two feet above the highest adjacent grade; non-residential structures must be elevated or flood-proofed to the same standard. In A1-30 and AE zones along a designated regulatory floodway, no encroachment is allowed if it would raise base flood levels during the base flood discharge.

Base flood elevation data is required for subdivisions or other developments larger than 50 lots or five acres, whichever is smaller, within unnumbered A zones. Detached accessory structures under $1,000 in value, such as sheds or garages, can skip the elevation requirement only if they are unfinished, outside the floodway, not used to store hazardous materials, wet flood-proofed, and anchored against flotation. 3.