California Government Code 66474.5 – (a) Notwithstanding any other law, after the amendments required …
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, after the amendments required by Sections 65302.9 and 65860.1 have become effective, the legislative body of each city and county within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley shall deny approval of a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, for a subdivision that is located within a flood hazard zone unless the city or county finds, based on substantial evidence in the record, one of the following:
(1) The facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control or other flood management facilities protect the subdivision to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.
Terms Used In California Government Code 66474.5
- Adequate progress: means all of the following:
California Government Code 65007
- City: includes "city and county" and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Government Code 20
- County: includes city and county. See California Government Code 19
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Flood hazard zone: means an area subject to flooding that is delineated as either a special hazard area or an area of moderate hazard on an official flood insurance rate map issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. See California Government Code 65007
- Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley: means lands in the bed or along or near the banks of the Sacramento River or San Joaquin River, or their tributaries or connected therewith, or upon any land adjacent thereto, or within the overflow basins thereof, or upon land susceptible to overflow therefrom. See California Government Code 65007
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18
- Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10
- Undetermined risk area: means an urban or urbanizing area within a moderate flood hazard zone, as delineated on an official flood insurance rate map issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has not been determined to have an urban level of protection. See California Government Code 65007
- Urban level of flood protection: means the level of protection that is necessary to withstand flooding that has a 1-in-200 chance of occurring in any given year using criteria consistent with, or developed by, the Department of Water Resources. See California Government Code 65007
(2) The city or county has imposed conditions on the subdivision that will protect the project to the urban level of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas.
(3) The local flood management agency has made adequate progress on the construction of a flood protection system which will result in flood protection equal to or greater than the urban level of flood protection in urban or urbanizing areas or the national Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in nonurbanized areas for property located within a flood hazard zone, intended to be protected by the system. Except as provided in Sections 65962.1 and 65962.2, for urban and urbanizing areas protected by project levees, the urban level of flood protection shall be achieved by 2025.
(4) The property in an undetermined risk area has met the urban level of flood protection based on substantial evidence in the record.
(b) The effective date of amendments referred to in this section shall be the date upon which the statutes of limitation specified in subdivision (c) of Section 65009 have run or, if the amendments and any associated environmental documents are challenged in court, the validity of the amendments and any associated environmental documents has been upheld in a final decision.
(c) This section does not change or diminish existing requirements of local flood plain management laws, ordinances, resolutions, or regulations necessary to local agency participation in the national flood insurance program.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 708, Sec. 5. (SB 901) Effective January 1, 2023.)