Melbourne, FL Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Sec. 160 of the Melbourne City Code requires any owner or authorized agent planning development wholly or partly within a flood hazard area, including structures exempt from the Florida Building Code, to first apply to the floodplain administrator and obtain the required permit; no permit issues until the floodplain management code and all other applicable regulations are satisfied. Sec. 151(c) adopts the Flood Insurance Study for Brevard County and incorporated areas dated January 29, 2020, along with its Flood Insurance Rate Maps and all later amendments, as the minimum basis for delineating the city's flood hazard areas, with the underlying studies and maps kept on file at the building official's office.

The scope in Sec. 150(b) reaches subdivision of land, filling and grading, site improvements, utility installations, manufactured home placement, tank installation, recreational vehicle placement and swimming pool installation, not just building construction. Where a surveyor's field data shows ground below the closest applicable base flood elevation, Sec. 151(d) treats that ground as flood hazard area even if a FIRM does not delineate it; ground shown above the closest base flood elevation is still regulated unless the owner secures a FEMA letter of map change. Permits expire under Sec.

165 if authorized work is not started within 180 days, or is suspended for 180 days, though written extension requests showing justifiable cause can be granted in 180-day increments. The floodplain administrator can suspend or revoke a permit issued in error or on incomplete information under Sec. 166, and the planning and zoning board hears appeals and variance requests under Sec. 178 and Sec. 179.