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

Section 11.36.150, Standards of Construction, requires every new structure and substantial improvement in an area of special flood hazard to conform to ASCE 24-14, the Flood Resistant Design and Construction standard. Subsection C, Elevation and Floodproofing, sets the elevation floor for the lowest floor, including any basement floor: it must reach the height required by the Residential Building Code, and in AE, AH and A1-30 Zones it must reach one foot above the base flood elevation as determined by the Floodplain Administrator. In an AO Zone without a specified depth number, the structure must rise at least two feet above the highest adjacent grade; where a depth number is shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map, the structure must meet or exceed it.

Unmapped A Zones without a published base flood elevation get the same one-foot freeboard above the Floodplain Administrator's determined elevation. Nonresidential construction may floodproof instead of elevating, but only to that same one-foot-above-BFE standard, with walls substantially impermeable to water, structural components able to resist hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads, and certification from a registered engineer or architect. New construction and substantial improvements must also be anchored against flotation and collapse, built with flood-resistant materials, and, for enclosed areas below the lowest floor, fitted with flood vents sized to at least one square inch of net opening per square foot of enclosed area, with openings no higher than one foot above grade.