Elk Grove, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

EGMC Chapter 16.50 applies citywide to all areas of special flood hazard mapped by FEMA in the Sacramento County Flood Insurance Study and accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps dated August 16, 2012, kept on file at the Public Works Department under Section 16.50.040. No structure or land may be constructed, extended, converted or altered in a mapped hazard area without a floodplain development permit, and Section 16.50.040(C) makes a violation, including breach of any permit condition, a misdemeanor.

Section 16.50.050 sets the application contents: scaled plans showing elevations of existing and proposed structures, utility locations, grading and drainage details, the location of the regulatory floodway, base flood elevation data, and the proposed elevation of the lowest floor. Nonresidential projects that flood-proof instead of elevate must submit a registered civil engineer's or architect's certification. Consistent with the General Plan, the chapter allows only two categories of development in special flood hazard areas: nonhabitable accessory structures meeting the standards in Section 16.50.060(A)(4), and new subdivisions or development meeting the subdivision standards in Section 16.50.060(C).

The Floodplain Administrator is generally the approving authority, but when the permit is combined with a tentative map, design review or other Title 23 zoning entitlement, the same body deciding that entitlement decides the floodplain permit too. Appeals of a Floodplain Administrator decision go through EGMC Chapter 1.11; appeals of a Planning Commission, Zoning Administrator or Community Development Director decision go through EGMC Section 23.14.060. This chapter regulates land use, not insurance, so compliance alone does not set the property's National Flood Insurance Program premium.