New Bedford, MA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Section 4430 establishes the Floodplain District as an overlay district covering all special flood hazard areas designated Zone A, AE, AH, AO, A99, V or VE on the Bristol County Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) dated July 6, 2021, as issued by FEMA for the National Flood Insurance Program, with the FIRM and accompanying Flood Insurance Study incorporated by reference and kept on file with the City Clerk, Planning Board, Building Official and Conservation Commission. Section 4478 then requires a permit for essentially any activity in the district: new construction, changes to existing buildings, placement of manufactured homes or agricultural facilities, fences, sheds, storage facilities, drilling, mining, and paving, or any other development that could increase flooding or flood risk to other properties. Section 4479 requires the applicant to work through a checklist of every local, state and federal permit the project needs and to submit proof that each has been obtained.

Section 4460 layers state and federal requirements on top of the local overlay: all development, whether by right or by special permit, must comply with M.G.L. Chapter 131, Section 40, the state building code's floodplain and coastal high hazard provisions (currently 780 CMR), and the DEP's wetlands protection, inland wetlands, coastal wetlands, and Title 5 septic regulations. Within regulatory floodways on the Bristol County FIRM, Section 4460 prohibits any encroachment that would raise flood levels during a base flood event, bans man-made alteration of sand dunes in Zone VE, and requires new construction in Zone VE to sit landward of the mean high tide line. Section 4474 designates the Inspector of Buildings as the City's floodplain administrator, and Section 4477 allows a variance from these floodplain rules only on a showing of good and sufficient cause, non-financial hardship, no added threat to public safety, and that the variance is the minimum relief necessary.