Camarillo, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Camarillo's flood damage prevention chapter, Municipal Code Chapter 16.34, applies to every area of special flood hazard shown on the city's Flood Insurance Rate Map. Under Section 16.34.400(C), new construction and substantial improvement of any structure must have the bottom of the floor slab, the lowest floor beam, or the basement floor elevated to a minimum of 1.0 foot above the base flood elevation, the freeboard the city adds on top of FEMA's mapped level. Structures in Zone AO must instead sit above the flood depth number printed on the FIRM, or two feet above the highest adjacent grade if no depth number is shown. Nonresidential buildings may floodproof instead of elevate, but a registered engineer or architect must certify the floodproofing can withstand the flood depths, pressures, and hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads expected at the site.

The director of engineering services administers the chapter, reviewing every development permit application for compliance. Once a structure is complete, its lowest-floor elevation must be certified by a registered professional engineer or surveyor, or verified by the city's building inspector, and recorded under Section 16.34.320(C). Skipping this step is grounds for the director to issue a stop-work order. Owners on a lot of one-half acre or less surrounded by existing structures built below the base flood level may seek a variance from the planning commission under Sections 16.34.520 and 16.34.530, but the commission cannot grant one inside a mapped floodway if it would raise flood levels. A denied applicant can appeal to the planning commission within ten days, then to the city council. Any variance granted comes with a mandatory written notice warning that building below the base flood elevation can raise flood insurance premiums by as much as twenty-five dollars per one hundred dollars of coverage.