Palatine, IL Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Appendix B, section 6.08, Floodplain Regulations, provides that development of land in and adjacent to floodplains, or containing watercourses or drainage ways, must follow the village's floodplain regulations, which are written to comply with the National Flood Insurance Program rules at 44 CFR 59 through 79 and take precedence over the Cook County Watershed Management Ordinance where Palatine's rules are more restrictive. Subsection (b) designates the Village Engineer as Floodplain Administrator and bars any person, firm, corporation, or governmental body not exempted by law from commencing development in a special flood hazard area (SFHA) without first getting that office's review and approval, which does not excuse compliance with any other section of the Palatine Code.

The Floodplain Administrator can require hydraulic studies, elevation certificates, or floodproofing certificates before, during, and after construction, and subsection (d) sets detailed permitted-use, special-use, and prohibited-use lists for the floodplain, such as barring new residential structures in a floodway unless elevated by fill at least ten feet beyond the foundation, and barring hospitals, nursing homes, and police or fire stations from the 500-year floodplain entirely. Variances cannot be granted for anything located in a regulatory floodway, and elsewhere require the applicant to show the activity cannot be located outside the SFHA and that the relief requested is the minimum necessary.