WV Floodplain Management — NFIP Participation Mandate (WV)
Tracked preemption from the West Virginia overlay bundle.
Overview
← All state preemptionsWest Virginia overlay roll-upWest Virginia zoning wikiWest Virginia building codesFederal overlaysGlossaryFederal-conflict: Yes
Effective
1973-12-31
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:WV
Other West Virginia preemptions
Federal Protected Lands — New River Gorge NP, Monongahela NF, USACE Locks/DamsW. Va. Code §22-6A — Horizontal Well Control Act (Marcellus/Utica Preemption)W. Va. Code §8-1-5a — Municipal Home Rule Program (Authority Expansion)W. Va. Code Chapter 8A — Land Use Planning Act (Enabling + Dillon's Rule Cap)W. Va. Code §8A-7-8 — County Zoning Voter Referendum RequirementW. Va. Code §22-3 — Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act (SMCRA Primacy)W. Va. Code §8-12-5(16) — Manufactured Housing Nondiscrimination FloorWV SB 187 / HB 4115 (2026) — Housing Opportunity Act (Duplex By-Right, PENDING)
Trigger predicate
When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.
city.in_floodplain == TruePreempted fields
2 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.
| Field | Op | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
base_districts[*].floodplain_overlay_required | override | True | Communities with FEMA-mapped SFHA must adopt floodplain ordinances meeting 44 CFR 60.3 to maintain NFIP eligibility |
base_districts[*].finished_floor_elevation_ft_above_bfe | floor_at | 1 | Minimum 1 ft freeboard above Base Flood Elevation; WV state model floodplain ordinance recommends 2 ft post-Greenbrier-flood (2016) |
Citation
Authority source
W. Va. Code §7-1-3 (county floodplain authority); §8-12-5 (municipal); federal National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. §4001 et seq.); 44 CFR Part 60; WV DHSEM Floodplain Management Program
§ Federal NFIP + WV state model ordinance
Research notes
Post-2016 Greenbrier flood disaster, WV strengthened floodplain coordination via DHSEM. Federal NFIP mandates minimum standards (44 CFR 60.3) that communities must meet to retain federal flood insurance availability. State model ordinance recommends 2 ft freeboard. This is a federal-state floor, not a state preemption of local zoning per se, but it conditions floodplain district content.