Winter Haven, FL Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Section 5-23 modifies the state-adopted Florida Building Code with local freeboard requirements tied to the city's Flood Insurance Rate Maps. In areas mapped as 'Other Flood Areas,' new buildings and structures must have their lowest floors and exterior mechanical equipment elevated to or above 2 feet above the highest adjacent grade, or the 100-year elevation, whichever is higher. 5) sets the minimum elevation at whichever is higher of the ASCE 24 standard or the base flood elevation plus 2 feet. 1: the lowest floor of a home outside a Coastal A Zone must sit at or above the base flood elevation plus 2 feet, or the design flood elevation, whichever is higher, and in AO Zone shallow-flooding areas the floor must clear the FIRM's depth number plus 2 feet, or at least 4 feet if no depth number is listed.

3: every building and residential permit application must show flood zones, design and base flood elevations, and proposed lowest floor elevations on a FEMA Elevation Certificate, and that certificate must be resubmitted at the foundation stage, before vertical construction continues, and again at final inspection. The amendment also tightens the definition of 'substantial damage' to include flood-related damage on two separate occasions in a 10-year period whose repair costs each averaged 25 percent or more of the structure's pre-damage market value.