El Cajon, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

14, Flood Damage Prevention, applies citywide to all areas of special flood hazard identified in FEMA's Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Maps, kept on file at the Community Development Department at 200 Civic Center Way. 050(A) requires a development permit before construction or development begins in any mapped special flood hazard area; the application, filed on forms from the floodplain administrator, must show the site's nature, location, dimensions and elevation, existing or proposed structures, fill, material storage, and drainage facilities, plus the proposed lowest-floor elevation and any watercourse alteration.

050(B) designates the director of community development as floodplain administrator, responsible for granting or denying permits and reviewing whether proposed development would raise the base flood water surface elevation by more than one foot at any point. 040(C) makes compliance mandatory: no structure or land may be constructed, located, extended, converted, or altered without full compliance with the chapter, and violating its requirements, including conditions attached to a permit, is a misdemeanor. 050(D). 060(F): encroachments including fill and new construction are prohibited unless certified engineering analysis shows no increase in base flood elevation.