FEMA flood zone rules in Shawnee County, KS — also called floodplain regulations or special flood hazard area (SFHA) rules — determine flood insurance requirements and elevation standards for new construction.
Shawnee County and the City of Topeka enforce FEMA floodplain standards and Kansas Division of Water Resources minimums. A floodplain development permit is required before building or filling in a mapped special flood hazard area.
Shawnee County and the City of Topeka participate in the National Flood Insurance Program and administer floodplain management locally. Development, fill, or substantial improvement within a FEMA special flood hazard area needs a floodplain development permit first. New and substantially improved structures must have their lowest floor elevated above base flood elevation, and Kansas Division of Water Resources rules require at least one foot of freeboard above that level. Flood risk here is riverine, driven by the Kansas River, Soldier Creek, and Shunganunga Creek. The 1951 flood remains the benchmark event, and the Soldier Creek diversion channel and Topeka levees were built in response.
Building or filling in a special flood hazard area without a permit brings local enforcement, mandatory correction or removal, and higher or force-placed flood insurance.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Shawnee County, KS
Neither Shawnee County nor Topeka regulates holiday lights, inflatables, or yard decorations on private residential property, and Kansas has no state law on ...
Shawnee County, KS
Topeka lets you post a garage-sale sign on your own property as a temporary sign, up to six square feet in residential zones. Off-premise directional signs s...
Shawnee County, KS
Topeka allows political yard signs on private property under its sign code (TMC Title 18.10): one sign per race or ballot question, up to six square feet in ...
Shawnee County, KS
Shawnee County does not license or register rental homes, and Kansas has no statewide landlord license. Topeka enforces a property-maintenance code and debat...
Shawnee County, KS
Kansas has no just-cause eviction law, and Shawnee County cannot add one. A landlord ends a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days' written notice under K.S.A. ...
Shawnee County, KS
Rent control is illegal anywhere in Shawnee County. Kansas statute K.S.A. 12-16,120 bars every county, city, and township from any ordinance that controls th...
See how Shawnee County's flood zones rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.