Citrus County, FL Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

ch. 125, and Sec. 18-191(c) sweeps in nearly everything: subdividing land, filling, grading, utility work, building or altering a structure exempt from the Florida Building Code, placing or replacing a manufactured home, installing a tank, parking a recreational vehicle, or putting in a swimming pool. The flood hazard boundaries themselves come from the Citrus County unincorporated-area flood insurance study dated January 15, 2021, and the accompanying FIRMs, both on file at the Building Division, 3600 W. Sovereign Path, Lecanto, under Sec. 18-196(c). Sec. 18-198(a) requires an application to the floodplain administrator, plus the building official where applicable, before any of that development starts, and no permit issues until the applicant satisfies both this article and every other applicable code.

The permit requirement even reaches structures the Florida Building Code exempts outright, such as railroads, small agricultural buildings, temporary construction sheds, certain utility structures, tribal chickees, and small family mausoleums, per Sec. 18-198(c). A floodplain permit is only good for 180 days: work must start in that window or the permit lapses, and 90-day written extensions are available on a showing of justifiable cause under Sec. 18-198(f). Sec. 18-198(h) also flags the other permits a floodplain project usually needs on top of the county's, including the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the Florida Department of Health for septic systems, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for coastal construction and wetlands work.