Blue Hill, NE Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Section 9-501 of the Blue Hill Municipal Code adopts Floodplain Management Ordinance No. 725, passed August 9, 2022, to promote public health, safety, and general welfare and to minimize flood losses. The ordinance applies its provisions five ways: it restricts or prohibits construction that is dangerous to health, safety, or property during flooding or that would cause undue increases in flood heights or velocities; it requires that flood-vulnerable uses, including public facilities serving them, be given flood protection at the time of initial construction; it protects individuals from buying land unsuited for its intended purpose because of flood hazard; it works to keep the community eligible for property owners to purchase flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program; and it regulates floodplain permits, application procedures, construction standards, and variance procedures.

Because the ordinance is incorporated by reference rather than reprinted in the code book, Section 9-501 requires the full text of Ordinance No. 725, including its permit application forms and construction standards, to be kept on file in the office of the city clerk, where a property owner or builder can review the specific standards that apply to a parcel in the mapped floodplain before applying for a permit. Any building or structure covered by the ordinance is also subject to the general building-permit process in Chapter 9, Article 2, so floodplain construction typically needs both the ordinance's floodplain permit and the standard city building permit before work begins.