Aiken County, SC Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Section 24-2.10 establishes Aiken County's Flood Hazard Overlay (FHO) District, covering four categories of flood-prone land: floodplains, areas of shallow flooding, areas of special flood hazard, and floodways, mapped under FEMA's flood insurance rate maps for the county's August 16, 2018 flood insurance study, adopted by reference under Section 24-2.10.4. Because development in these areas "may not occur where alternative locations exist," Section 24-2.10.6 requires a building permit or development permit before any development activity begins, and the applicant must show new structures cannot be sited outside the flood hazard district.

The building official doubles as the floodplain administrator under Section 24-2.10.13, administering permit review, records, and variance referrals. Section 24-2.10.16 assigns that official the duty of reviewing every permit application for compliance and maintaining records open to public inspection. Floodway areas, the most hazardous zones within the FHO district, face the tightest restriction under Section 24-2.10.19(8): no encroachment, including fill or new construction, is allowed unless an engineer certifies it will not raise flood levels during a base flood, and manufactured homes are barred from floodways outright except in existing manufactured home parks.

Fill placement is discouraged under Section 24-2.10.20, which requires an applicant to show that raising a structure by other means is not workable and that any fill used will not reduce flood storage capacity or worsen flooding on neighboring parcels. All records tied to FHO administration are kept in the planning and development department's building official's office and are open to public inspection under Section 24-2.10.11.