Pico Rivera, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Pico Rivera Municipal Code § 15.50.410 sets the geographic reach of the city's floodplain ordinance in one sentence: this chapter applies to all areas of special flood hazards within the jurisdiction of the city of Pico Rivera. Section 15.50.420 then supplies the map: the areas of special flood hazard are those the Federal Insurance Administration of FEMA identified in the Flood Insurance Study dated July 6, 1998, plus the accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps and all subsequent amendments and revisions, which the chapter adopts by reference.

The city keeps that study and the FIRMs on file at City Hall, 6615 Passons Boulevard, in the Department of Public Works, where anyone can review whether a specific parcel falls inside a mapped hazard area. Once a parcel is inside the mapped area, § 15.50.490 requires a development permit before any construction, filling, grading, or other development begins, with an application that must show the proposed elevation of every structure relative to mean sea level, the elevation of the highest adjacent grade, and how any watercourse on the property would be altered or relocated.

The floodplain administrator, the director of public works under § 15.50.500, reviews every permit to confirm the site is reasonably safe from flooding and that the project will not raise the base flood's water surface elevation by more than one foot. Because the chapter excludes areas outside city jurisdiction, § 15.50.525 separately notes that the AR/A zone along the Rio Hondo and the A zone along the San Gabriel River are not within Pico Rivera's jurisdiction, so activity there is limited to emergency or routine channel and bridge maintenance rather than the city's development-permit process.