Lee County does not prepare elevation certificates. Elevation Certificates (EC) are prepared by locally licensed surveyors and submitted to Lee County Community Development as a requirement of the building permit process. Once submitted, Lee County keeps a copy of the certificate on file (see below for information on searching for an elevation certificate). You will need to contact a locally licensed surveyor if we do not have one on file and you need a certificate prepared.

Who Needs an Elevation Certificate?

Structures built in a Special Flood Hazard Area must have a FEMA Elevation Certificate to prove that the structure meets elevation requirements. This includes A, AE, AH, AO and Coastal High Hazard Areas known as VE or V zones. A FEMA Elevation Certificate is required prior to vertical construction, before the first permanent horizontal member is placed. A final construction Elevation Certificate is also required.

Elevation Certificates can be prepared by local, licensed surveyors.

Find the flood zone and base flood elevation for any parcel in unincorporated Lee County

Search for an Elevation Certificate (IF on record)

​Use Lee County's interactive GIS app to search for an elevation certificate by address, parcel number or manually zooming in to location.
​Search for an elevation certificate by permitting case number. (If structure was not in special flood hazard at time of construction, there will not be an EC on file.)	​
​E-mail staff to see if an EC is on record.	​

For What Years Are Elevation Certificates Available?

Elevation Certificates for new construction, renovations and/or additions are available online for building permits issued since 2000 in FEMA’s designated floodplain in unincorporated Lee County. Elevation certificates are also available online for structures built in the floodplain from 2000-2007 in Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach.

Possible reasons why you may not be able to find an Elevation Certificate:

• One was not required at time of permitting.
  
• Structures built prior to 9/19/84 will not have an EC on record (Lee County entered the NFIP and adopted flood maps on this date. If a structure was built prior to this date, there was no requirement for an elevation certificate).
  
• There may be technical issues with the GIS app, which may not display the EC properly or at all.
  
• If EC was prepared solely for flood insurance purposes, we will most likely not have the EC on record. We keep records of ECs that are tied to building construction permits.
  
• Jurisdictional issues: we will only have ECs for structures permitted and built while under Unincorporated Lee County's jurisdiction. The term "unincorporated" means any area that has not been incorporated into a city limit (basically anything outside of a city limit).
  
• At the time of permitting/construction, the property may not have been in a flood zone (aka Special Flood Hazard Area).
  

Find an Elevation Certificate through the FDEM Database

Effective Jan. 1, 2017, a copy of each elevation certificate prepared by a surveyor and mapper will be submitted to the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) as required by Florida Statute 472.0366. FDEM worked with representatives from the Florida Surveying and Mapping Society, the Florida Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers, and the office of Florida Senator Jeff Brandes to create a solution to meet the requirements of the law. A user-friendly database has been created (for reference purposes) where you can easily view previously submitted certificates. 

For more information visit https://florida.withforerunner.com/properties.