So this question gets asked all the time. How much fill can I bring onto a lot in Jupiter Farms?
This is the PBC ordinance governing this question for… https://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/dem/Publications/Flood-Damage-Ordinance-Article-18.pdf
PBC has put together a question and answer page for this topic. Note that one may place up to 20 Cubic Yards of “clean fill” per 24 months as a maintenance exception BUT this does NOT mean that one can slowly fill in that pond as it “shall not include new lot improvements or new development activity. All other filling operations, including pond filling shall require a site development permit prior to placement of fill”.
As of the 2017 revision of the FEMA FIRM maps all of Jupiter Farms is now is a Flood Zone X. Flood Zone X is NOT in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) and thus there is no Base Flood Elevation (BFE) that one would be required that the first floor be at least 1′ above.
For new construction, the first living area floor of the house must be at least the GREATER of 1′ above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE), or 1.5′ above the Lowest Adjacent Road Crown (LARC). At present, in Jupiter Farms, only the LARC +1.5′ requirement is applicable.
And the MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF FILL THAT CAN BE ADDED to the site (brought into it) other than that required to raise the slab on grade or allow for things like an ADA compliant ramp or a berm for a septic system: “On all new construction, earth fill brought onto the site of construction from another site shall be minimized to maximize existing floodwater storage capacity. Maximum volume of imported fill shall be limited to that necessary to raise an earth pad to elevate the slab-on-grade, not more than six inches above minimum floor elevation set in this Article, with side slopes of the pad of 1:5 to 1:3 starting ten feet from the slab edges.”
So, lets say a property in on a street where the Lowest Adjacent Road Crown (LARC) is 3.8′ NAVD. The slab of the first floor must be at least 3.8′ + 1.5′ = 5.3′. So the first floor slab must be AT LEAST 5.3′ above the NAVD datum.
And the fill brought into the site can be NOT MORE THAN 5.3’+0.5′ = 5.8′ NAVD and this level of fill can only extend 10′ from the edge of the slab.
One other big exception to this is if the property has on-site septic then this must be raised above the ground water level and may control elevation of the house as well as the fill required to cover the septic system.
