Gary, IN Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Gary regulates floodplain development through a Floodplain District overlay described in Sec. 123-247 through Sec. 123-306, and Sec. 123-304 sets the core no-rise standard. Inside the mapped floodway, shown on the Flood Boundary and Floodway Map or Flood Insurance Rate Map, Sec. 123-304(1)a bars any development that would, alone or combined with existing or future development, cause any increase in the elevation of the regulatory flood, and paragraph (1)b requires the city to ask FEMA to formally revise its flood data whenever a project involves channel modification or fill, including levees.

In SFHA areas mapped only as an A Zone, where no 100-year elevation or floodway line has been set, Sec. 123-304(2) instead allows development only if its cumulative effect with all other existing and anticipated development will not increase the regulatory flood elevation more than one-tenth of one foot. Public-health standards under Sec. 123-304(3) separately bar storing chemicals, explosives, flammable liquids, or other hazardous materials below the flood protection grade unless they sit in a floodproofed tank or building meeting Sec. 123-305, and require new sewer manholes below the flood protection grade to be watertight.

No development can begin in an SFHA without the improvement location permit required by Sec. 123-285, issued by the zoning administrator only after confirming compliance with Sec. 123-304 and, for actual floodway sites, after the state department of natural resources issues its own construction permit under IC 13-2-22.