Yonkers, NY Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

City Code Article XIII adopts flood damage prevention rules to protect life, minimize public and private flood losses, and keep the City qualified for the National Flood Insurance Program, per §§ 56-142 through 56-144. Section 56-146A applies the article to all areas of special flood hazard in Yonkers, defined by specific FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map panels effective September 28, 2007 and later letters of map revision, kept on file at City Hall, 40 South Broadway. Section 56-147A designates the City Engineer as local administrator with authority to grant or deny floodplain development permits, and § 56-147B makes it unlawful to undertake any development, defined broadly to include buildings, mining, dredging, filling, paving, excavation or drilling, in a mapped flood hazard area without a valid permit.

Section 56-146E is the penalty clause: any infraction, including violating conditions attached to a permit, is a violation punishable upon conviction by a fine of no more than $250 or imprisonment of not more than 15 days, or both, with each day of noncompliance counted as a separate offense; a noncompliant structure without an approved variance gets reported to FEMA. Owners seeking relief apply to the Planning Board under § 56-149, which hears appeals of the local administrator's decisions and variance requests, weighing factors like danger to life and property, availability of alternative locations, and costs of emergency services during flooding; anyone aggrieved by the Planning Board's decision can appeal to the Supreme Court under CPLR Article 78.

Variances are generally reserved for lots of a half-acre or less surrounded by existing below-flood-level structures, with the required technical justification rising as lot size grows.