Bell County, TX Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

14 is one of the Final Plat requirements the Bell County Engineer checks before a plat can go to Commissioners Court for approval and recording. It requires every final plat to plot the 100-year flood plain boundary using the most current Bell County Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) published by FEMA. For any watercourse whose drainage basin runs larger than 64 acres, the subdivider must also show the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) as delineated by an engineering study bearing the seal of a Texas-licensed Professional Engineer.

Smaller basins are not required to run that study: instead the plat can simply show a 100-foot building setback measured from the centerline of the water course. This floodplain determination is a paid step in the plat process: the County Engineer's Appendix D fee schedule lists a $30 Floodplain Determination and a separate $2,000 Floodplain Permit for actual work in the mapped floodplain. Because Bell County has no zoning authority, this platting requirement, adopted under the county's Local Government Code Chapter 232 platting authority, is the only mechanism keeping new lots out of unmapped flood risk in the unincorporated area; it does not apply inside Killeen, Temple, Harker Heights or the other incorporated cities, which administer their own floodplain ordinances.

The rule is a plat-approval condition, not a building permit review, so it governs at the time a tract is subdivided rather than each time a house is built on an already-platted lot.