Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

KPB Chapter 21.06, Floodplain Management, applies to all flood hazard areas within the Kenai Peninsula Borough outside the cities of Homer, Kenai, Seward and Soldotna, each of which administers its own floodplain program. The borough's flood hazard areas are the Special Flood Hazard Areas mapped on FEMA's Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) and Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) panels for the borough, based on the Flood Insurance Study dated May 19, 1981 and revised in 1983, 1999, 2013, 2016 and February 28, 2025; those FIRM panels are adopted by reference and made part of the chapter.

A second, borough-specific layer covers the Seward Mapped Flood Data Area, a 1986/1995/2006 KPB GIS-mapped floodplain within the Seward-Bear Creek Flood Service Area but outside Seward's city limits; any lot partly within that mapped area is subject to the same permit review. KPB 21.06.040(A) requires a development permit from the planning department before any construction, fill, grading, dredging or other development begins in these areas, including plans showing elevations, proposed floodproofing and, for V zones, base flood elevation data for large subdivisions. The planning department reviews applications, confirms other federal and state permits are in hand, and, for structures in the floodway, applies the encroachment standards of KPB 21.06.050(C) before issuing the permit; a final permit for a residential structure follows only after the owner submits an elevation certificate.

Development that proceeds without a permit, or that violates any permit condition, is prohibited outright and is enforced through KPB 21.50, with each day of noncompliance counted as its own separate violation.