Smyrna, GA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Chapter 54 of the Smyrna Code applies to all areas of special flood hazard within the jurisdiction of the city (Sec. 54-6). The Code defines an area of special flood hazard as land subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. Sec. 54-7 adopts by reference the areas identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in its flood insurance study dated August 18, 1992, with accompanying maps and any revision, and for annexed land adopts the current effective study and data for Cobb County. Areas known to have flooded historically also count, even when they are not yet in a study.

A development permit is required before the commencement of any development activities (Sec. 54-8). Development means any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including buildings, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating, drilling operations and permanent storage of materials or equipment. The city engineer administers the chapter (Sec. 54-36). Applications go to the city engineer on city forms, with plans in duplicate showing elevations, the location and dimensions of structures, earthen fill placement, storage of materials and drainage facilities (Sec. 54-37). After the lowest floor is built, the permit holder must submit an as-built elevation certification prepared by or under the supervision of a registered land surveyor or professional engineer. Work done before certification is at the permit holder's risk, and failure to submit or correct certification is cause for a stop-work order.

Site rules follow. Under Sec. 54-61(11), no fill can be placed in a special flood hazard area unless an equal or greater volume is removed, backed by documentation from a registered engineer or land surveyor; the city engineer can waive the requirement when added fill would create an inconsequential increase. In the mapped floodway, Sec. 54-62(4) prohibits encroachments, including earthen fill and new construction, unless hydrologic and hydraulic analyses show no increase in flood levels. Along streams with no base flood data, Sec. 54-63 bars structures and fill within an area equal to the stream width or 20 feet, whichever is greater, from the top of the bank, absent engineer certification. A substantial improvement, meaning cumulative repairs or improvements over a five-year period that reach 50 percent of the structure's market value, brings an existing building under the Sec. 54-61 standards for new construction.