Spotsylvania County, VA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Article 7, Division 2 of the Spotsylvania County zoning ordinance creates the Floodplain Overlay District under authority the General Assembly granted localities in Code of Virginia §§ 15.2-2200, 15.2-2283, and 15.2-2280. Sec. 23-7.2.2 applies the district to all privately owned and publicly owned lands in the county identified as areas of special flood hazard on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) or included in the Flood Insurance Study (FIS) that FEMA provides the county, based on the FIRM dated May 9, 2023, and the Board of Supervisors may also designate additional special-flood-hazard areas even where FEMA's maps do not show them.

Sec. 23-7.2.3 sets the basic compliance rule: no land may be developed and no structure may be located, relocated, reconstructed, enlarged, or structurally altered except in full compliance with the division and any other applicable county ordinance. The section is explicit that meeting these standards does not create liability for the county or its officers for flood damage, and that the degree of protection provided is reasonable for regulatory purposes rather than a guarantee against all flooding, since larger floods can still occur and flood heights can rise from man-made causes like ice jams or bridge debris.

Records of floodplain administration are kept in perpetuity by the Zoning Administrator, and Sec. 23-7.2.3(e) makes any person who fails to comply with the division or a directive of the Zoning Administrator guilty of a zoning violation subject to Article 9's penalties; the Uniform Statewide Building Code separately addresses building-code violations in its own Sections 104, 105, and 115. A noncompliant structure may also be declared a public nuisance, and flood insurance may be withheld from structures built in violation of the division.