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

430, Floodplain Development Standards, spells out how high a home has to sit above flood level once it is inside a special flood hazard area. 020(C) requires every new or substantially improved residential structure to have its lowest floor, including any basement, elevated according to its flood zone. In A, AE and AH zones, the floor must be elevated above the highest adjacent grade to the depth number shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map, or at least two feet above the highest adjacent grade where no depth number is given.

In AO zones without velocity, the elevation must exceed the mapped depth number by at least two feet, or reach at least four feet above the highest adjacent grade if no depth number is specified. 440 provides. New development is also supposed to be designed, to the extent practicable, so building sites, sidewalks, driveways and roadways sit at or above the base flood elevation with evacuation routes leading straight out of the floodplain. Once construction wraps up, the elevation of the lowest floor has to be certified by a registered professional engineer or surveyor and verified by the city's floodplain administrator before the city will treat the structure as compliant.