If you plan to build, fill, grade, or place materials on land inside a mapped flood zone in Arkansas, you need an Arkansas floodplain development permit from your city or county before any work starts. The permit is issued locally, not by the state, and it exists to confirm that your project meets the elevation and construction standards tied to the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) for your site. Get the permit wrong and you risk stop-work orders, uninsurable buildings, and a property that won’t finance or resell.
When a Permit Is Required
“Development” in floodplain rules covers much more than putting up a house. Federal regulations define it as any change to improved or unimproved real estate, including constructing buildings, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation, drilling, or storing equipment and materials on the land.1eCFR. 44 CFR 59.1 – Definitions A new driveway, fill dirt to raise a lot, or even a stockpile of construction materials inside a Special Flood Hazard Area can trigger the requirement. If you’re not sure, call your local Floodplain Administrator before you break ground.
Who Issues the Permit
The Arkansas General Assembly, through the Flood Loss Prevention Act, gave every city, town, and county authority to adopt ordinances and building codes regulating land use and construction in flood-prone areas. Those local measures can restrict what gets built, require floodproofing, mandate drainage improvements, and regulate fill.2Justia Law. Arkansas Code 14-268-104 – Authority to Adopt Measures
Each participating community has to designate a Floodplain Administrator to implement its ordinance and review applications. The Administrator can be a full-time employee, a part-time staffer, or a contractor shared across jurisdictions.3Code of Arkansas Rules. 15 CAR 27-103 – Designation of Floodplain Administrator In smaller counties the building inspector or county judge often fills the role. That person is your single point of contact for the permit, the inspections, and most of the questions that come up along the way.
Find Your Flood Zone and the Base Flood Elevation
Before you design anything, find out whether your property sits in a regulated zone. FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps delineate Special Flood Hazard Areas, the zones with a one-percent chance of flooding in any given year. On the maps, these zones carry labels starting with “A” (Zone A, AE, AH, AO) for riverine flooding and “V” for coastal flooding.4FEMA. Flood Zones
The number that drives every other decision is the Base Flood Elevation, the predicted water surface height during that one-percent-annual-chance flood. Every elevation requirement, every floodproofing certification, and every insurance rating traces back to the BFE. You can look it up through FEMA’s Map Service Center or get it from your local Floodplain Administrator. Pin this number down early. Discovering it late forces expensive redesigns.
What Your Structure Has to Meet
The lowest floor of any new residential structure in a Special Flood Hazard Area has to be elevated to or above the BFE.5eCFR. 44 CFR 60.3 – Floodplain Management Criteria for Flood-Prone Areas Many Arkansas communities require “freeboard” on top of that, typically one foot above the BFE. Freeboard isn’t mandated by the minimum NFIP standards, but communities that adopt it earn credit toward lower insurance premiums for residents.
Non-residential structures have a second option. Instead of elevating, you can floodproof to the BFE by building the structure watertight below that level with walls that resist water pressure. A registered professional engineer or architect has to certify the design and the construction methods.5eCFR. 44 CFR 60.3 – Floodplain Management Criteria for Flood-Prone Areas
All electrical, heating, ventilation, plumbing, and air conditioning equipment must be designed or placed so floodwater can’t enter or accumulate inside the components during a flood.5eCFR. 44 CFR 60.3 – Floodplain Management Criteria for Flood-Prone Areas In practice that means elevating HVAC units, water heaters, and panels above the BFE or putting them in certified watertight housings. The outdoor condenser is the piece inspectors most often catch sitting at grade.
Enclosed Space Below the BFE
If your plans include enclosed space below the BFE, like a garage, crawlspace, or foyer, that space can only be used for vehicle parking, building access, or storage. No appliances, no living space, no ductwork, no plumbing fixtures.6Federal Emergency Management Agency. NFIP Technical Bulletin 1 – Openings in Foundation Walls and Walls of Enclosures
Those enclosure walls also need flood openings that let water flow in and out automatically so pressure doesn’t build up and collapse the foundation. The minimum is at least two openings with a combined net area of one square inch per square foot of enclosed space, with the bottom of each opening no higher than one foot above grade.6Federal Emergency Management Agency. NFIP Technical Bulletin 1 – Openings in Foundation Walls and Walls of Enclosures Screens and louvers are allowed if they don’t block automatic flow.
The Elevation Certificate
The Elevation Certificate ties the whole compliance picture together. It records the elevation of the lowest floor, any attached garage, machinery, and surrounding grade relative to the BFE, and it has to be completed by a licensed land surveyor, engineer, or architect authorized under state law.7Federal Emergency Management Agency. National Flood Insurance Program Elevation Certificate and Instructions You’ll need it twice: once with the permit application to document proposed elevations, and again after construction to confirm the as-built heights meet or exceed what was required. Fees typically run several hundred dollars depending on the surveyor and the site.
How to Apply
With your BFE confirmed and your design meeting the standards, you submit the application to your local Floodplain Administrator. A typical package includes:
- The completed application form for your jurisdiction.
- A site plan showing property boundaries, existing and proposed structures, and the flood zone lines.
- Engineering drawings showing how the structure will be elevated or floodproofed.
- A preliminary Elevation Certificate documenting proposed elevations based on the construction plans.
- A floodproofing certification, if you’re using that option on a non-residential structure instead of elevating.
The Administrator checks the project against the local ordinance and the NFIP minimums, with particular attention to whether the work will increase flood levels. Permit fees vary by jurisdiction but are generally modest administrative charges.
Once approved, construction proceeds under periodic inspections. After the lowest floor is in place and the mechanical equipment is installed, you submit a final certified Elevation Certificate confirming the finished structure meets the required elevation.7Federal Emergency Management Agency. National Flood Insurance Program Elevation Certificate and Instructions A second certificate is required at that stage because as-built conditions sometimes drift from the plans.
The Stricter Rule Inside a Regulatory Floodway
Many Special Flood Hazard Areas contain a narrower channel called the regulatory floodway, the portion of the floodplain that has to stay open to carry floodwater without raising flood levels. Development inside the floodway faces a much tougher standard: you must demonstrate through hydrologic and hydraulic engineering analysis that your project will cause zero increase in flood levels during the base flood.5eCFR. 44 CFR 60.3 – Floodplain Management Criteria for Flood-Prone Areas
This “no-rise” requirement effectively blocks most construction in a floodway. Even seemingly minor work, like placing fill to raise a yard, can redirect water and lift flood heights on neighboring properties. A professional engineer has to perform the analysis and certify no rise. If the numbers show any increase at all, the project can’t proceed without a formal revision to the community’s flood maps.
Renovations, Repairs, and the 50-Percent Rule
These standards don’t apply only to new construction. If you renovate, expand, or repair an existing structure in a flood zone and the total project cost reaches 50 percent of the building’s pre-project market value, the whole structure has to be brought into compliance with current standards as though it were new.8Federal Emergency Management Agency. Substantial Improvement and Substantial Damage The same threshold applies after flood damage: if repair costs hit 50 percent of pre-damage market value, the building is “substantially damaged” and must be elevated or floodproofed to current standards before anyone can move back in. Your local Floodplain Administrator makes that call, not your insurance carrier.
Some communities track improvement costs cumulatively across several years, so splitting a big renovation into smaller projects doesn’t necessarily sidestep the rule. FEMA warns against that approach and recommends counting all permit applications submitted within a set timeframe as a single project.8Federal Emergency Management Agency. Substantial Improvement and Substantial Damage Before you start any renovation on a flood-zone structure, get a written determination from the Administrator on whether the project will cross the threshold.
If You Think Your Property Shouldn’t Be in the Zone
If you believe your property was placed in a Special Flood Hazard Area in error, FEMA has administrative processes to correct the map. A Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) applies when the natural ground elevation is already at or above the BFE but got swept into the zone by imprecise mapping. You hire a surveyor or engineer to prepare an Elevation Certificate showing the actual elevation and submit it to FEMA, which typically issues a determination within 60 days of receiving a complete application.9FEMA.gov. Letter of Map Amendment and Letter of Map Revision-Based on Fill Process A successful LOMA can lift the mandatory flood insurance requirement.
A Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-F) covers the case where fill dirt was placed during construction to raise an area above the BFE. The requirements are similar, but FEMA also requires the community to confirm the land and any structures are “reasonably safe from flooding” and that proper permits were obtained.9FEMA.gov. Letter of Map Amendment and Letter of Map Revision-Based on Fill Process Projects that physically change floodplain boundaries, floodway limits, or flood elevations, such as channel improvements or levee construction, need a full Letter of Map Revision after construction, and developers should get a Conditional Letter of Map Revision from FEMA before breaking ground.10FEMA. Letters of Map Revision and Conditional Letters of Map Revision
Insurance Tie-In and What Non-Compliance Costs
Standard homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover flood damage. The National Flood Insurance Program fills that gap, but access depends on your community participating in the program and enforcing its ordinance.11FloodSmart. Eligibility for NFIP Flood Insurance If your property sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area and your mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, federal law requires you to carry flood insurance for the life of the loan in an amount at least equal to the loan balance or the maximum available coverage, whichever is less.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4012a – Flood Insurance Purchase and Compliance Requirements That requirement stays with the property through ownership changes.
Building without a floodplain development permit, or violating the elevation requirements, can bring local code enforcement action, including stop-work orders and fines. Structures built out of compliance face dramatically higher flood insurance premiums and may be effectively uninsurable at affordable rates. Lenders can force-place expensive flood coverage on your mortgage if you let the required policy lapse, and non-compliant properties are hard to sell because buyers can’t obtain standard financing on them. The cost of doing the permit right is small compared with the cost of fixing a structure that was built wrong.