Santa Maria, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

301 sets the construction standards that apply throughout areas of special flood hazard. ' Once the structure is finished, a registered professional engineer or surveyor must certify the lowest floor elevation, or the City's Building Inspector must verify it, and that certification goes to the floodplain administrator. In zone AO, subsection (c)(2) instead requires the lowest floor to sit above the highest adjacent grade by at least the depth number shown on the FIRM, or at least two feet if no depth is specified. Nonresidential structures may substitute flood-proofing under subsection (c)(3): the structure must be watertight below the base flood level, resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads, and be certified by a registered engineer or architect.

Subsection (c)(4) requires enclosed areas below the lowest floor that can flood to have flood vents equalizing hydrostatic pressure, meeting a minimum of two openings totaling at least one square inch of net area per square foot of enclosed area, with opening bottoms no higher than one foot above grade, unless a registered engineer or architect certifies an equivalent design.