Hazard Mitigation

The county’s codified ordinances include regulations to mitigate flood, coastal storm, and geological hazards.

Its Flood Hazard Areas regulations exceed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s minimum requirements (§15). These regulations require all new or rehabilitated structures in special flood hazard zones to be elevated to one foot above base flood elevations. And it includes special standards for coastal high hazard areas (§15.12.130).

Its Critical Areas regulations include Geologically Hazardous Areas regulations that limit new development in areas susceptible to damage from erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geologic events (§19.400).