Woodbury, MN Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Woodbury measures flood protection against a single benchmark: the regulatory flood protection elevation, defined in Sec. 25-6 as no lower than one foot above the elevation of the regional flood, plus any rise in flood elevation caused by floodway encroachments. That one-foot freeboard becomes a hard construction standard in the flood fringe district under Sec. 25-20(a): every structure, including accessory structures, must be elevated on fill so the lowest floor, including any basement floor, sits at or above the regulatory flood protection elevation, and the fill itself must be no lower than one foot below that elevation and extend at least 15 feet beyond the structure's outside limits.

Sec. 25-20(b) allows one narrow alternative for small accessory buildings: structures under 500 square feet that are not designed for human habitation may be dry-floodproofed to the FP-1 or FP-2 classification in the State Building Code instead of elevated on fill, or, for a detached garage used solely for parking and storage, to the FP-3 or FP-4 classification. Floodproofed structures must be anchored against flotation and lateral movement, have mechanical equipment elevated to or above the regulatory flood protection elevation, and include at least two automatic openings on two different exterior walls, sized to one square inch of opening per square foot of enclosed area subject to flooding, with the lowest opening no more than one foot above the adjacent grade; a garage door opened by hand does not satisfy this automatic-opening requirement.