Monterey County, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

16, Regulations for Floodplains in Monterey County, was rewritten in full by Ord. No. 5139 on October 6, 2009 under the County's police power authority in Government Code §§ 65302, 65560 and 65800. 030(A) defines the covered area as all Special Flood Hazard Areas identified on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps prepared for the January 30, 1984 County Flood Insurance Study (as revised 1991), plus land within 200 feet of a river or 50 feet of any other watercourse. 040(B) folds the review into whatever building, grading, sanitary sewage, water system or other land use permit the applicant is already seeking, and the Chief of Building of the County's Housing and Community Development Department serves as Floodplain Administrator.

The Administrator checks that the site is reasonably safe from flooding, that the project will not raise the base flood water surface elevation by more than one foot at any point, and that subdivisions of five or more parcels do not increase post-development flood discharge. 050(A)-(C), new construction and substantial improvements must be anchored against flotation and lateral movement, built with flood-resistant materials, and must elevate the lowest floor, including any basement, to at least one foot above the base flood elevation; in Zone AO the lowest floor must sit at least one foot above the highest adjacent grade, or two feet if no depth number is mapped.

Nonresidential structures may instead be floodproofed watertight to that same one-foot level if certified by a registered engineer or architect. Utility equipment such as furnaces and water heaters must likewise sit at least one foot above the base flood elevation. 060, but the chapter directs the County to find that granting it would not constitute fraud on or victimization of future owners and that the hardship is exceptional and peculiar to the property, not merely economic inconvenience.