Jefferson County, AL Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

20 of the Subdivision and Construction Regulations. It gives the Director of Roads and Transportation/County Engineer authority to prohibit subdividing any portion of property lying within the flood plain of a stream or drainage course, exercised when the Director deems it necessary for the health, safety or welfare of present and future residents, or necessary for conserving water, drainage and sanitary facilities. Once an area is treated as protected under this authority, it must be preserved from destruction or damage caused by clearing, grading or dumping earth, waste material or stumps, except when the Director specifically allows it.

The Zoning Regulations' definitions article separately defines "Floodplain District" as a district delineated by Federal Flood Insurance Program floodplain and floodway boundary maps and documents, subject to inundation. The county's Flood Hazard Appeal Board, established September 19, 2006 with the Floodplain Management Ordinance, hears variance requests tied to that ordinance's Article 5, but the ordinance's own permitted-use and permit standards for development inside mapped flood zones are not in this file: the Floodplain Regulations and Floodplain Ordinance exist on the county's records only as scanned images without a searchable text layer.

This subdivision-stage prohibition therefore governs whether a parcel can be platted at all in a floodplain, while the separate, currently unreadable ordinance would govern permitting for construction once platted. The rule applies only to unincorporated Jefferson County.