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City & County General Plan Hazard Zones
Regulatory natural hazard zones drawn by city and county planners are where “the rubber meets the road.” California law requires municipalities to publish a long-range vision called the General Plan. Its “Safety Element” maps local hazards that are unique or often differ from the state zones. Because they can affect a building-permit decision and limit the buyer’s use of the property, the Safety Element zones should be disclosed if applicable.
Hosted by Geologist Patrick McClellan, B.Sc., M.A., CA PG# 3854
In this episode:
• Municipal natural hazard zones• The General Plan “Safety Element”
• Locally imposed land-use regulation
• Importance in the NHD Report
Why this is important
• California law requires disclosure of certain federal and state-mapped hazard zones to a buyer of real property.• In addition, counties and cities often map additional hazards and regulate local building and development within those zones. In fact, there are more than 750 county and city-level hazard zones throughout California.
• A property that is "NOT IN" any state-level hazard zone may be "IN" one or more county or city-level regulated hazard zone.
• Be sure to get an NHD report that discloses county and city regulatory hazard zones. Not all do. They are included in First American NHD and JCP-LGS disclosure reports.
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