Washoe County, NV Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Under § 100.106.2, any site plan submitted with a building permit application must show, where applicable, flood hazard areas, floodways, and design flood elevations, drawn to scale from an accurate boundary line survey; the Building Program can waive that requirement only for alteration or repair work. Once construction is underway in a special flood hazard area, § 100.109.3.3's building elevation inspection requires an engineer or land surveyor to certify, on a FEMA Elevation Certificate, the elevations of the bottom floor (including any crawl space or basement), the next higher floor, the attached garage floor, the lowest machinery or equipment serving the building, and the lowest and highest adjacent grade. The completed certificate must be submitted to the County Engineer, who reviews and approves it, before the Building Program will conduct the final inspection required under § 100.109.3.12 to close out the permit.

Because this requirement sits inside the general Building Code rather than a standalone flood ordinance, a project in a special flood hazard area is also subject to Chapter 100's normal building-permit process: the site plan, plan review, and inspection sequence in Articles 105 through 109 apply in full, and the permit is issued and enforced by the Division Director or the building official under §§ 100.104.1 and 100.104.2. The elevation inspection sits alongside the other required inspections in § 100.109.3, including footing, framing, and energy-efficiency inspections, and a project cannot reach final approval or a certificate of occupancy under § 100.110.1 until it has passed.