Yuba City, CA Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Title 6, Chapter 9 applies to every area of special flood hazard within the City, based on the Flood Insurance Study and Flood Insurance Rate Map that FEMA's Federal Insurance Administration prepared for Yuba City, on file at the Public Works Department at 1201 Civic Center Boulevard. 303 flatly bars constructing, locating, extending, converting, or altering any structure or land in those areas without full compliance with the chapter. 401 requires a development permit before any construction or development begins, with an application to the Public Works Director that must show the proposed elevation of the lowest habitable floor relative to mean sea level, any floodproofing elevation, engineer or architect certification of floodproofing methods for nonresidential structures, and a description of any watercourse alteration.

402, reviews every permit to confirm the site is reasonably safe from flooding and that the project will not raise the base flood water surface elevation by more than one foot at any point. 604, added in 2016, block the City Council from approving a development agreement, a discretionary permit or entitlement that adds building or occupancy, a ministerial permit for a new residence, or a tentative or parcel map in a flood hazard zone unless the decision-maker finds the project meets the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas, or is otherwise protected under one of the alternative findings the ordinance lists, such as flood management progress toward that standard by 2025 or a limited-risk watershed.