A city (or county) is not an accident but the result of coherent visions and aims

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subdivision ordinances, are the primary means of implementing general plan policies established to minimize flood hazards. In 
addition to including floodplain management policies in the general plan, making related changes to zoning and subdivision 
ordinances is crucial to the success of a floodplain management program.
In the process of preparing a flood management element, the city or county will have to collect a substantial amount of 
information concerning its floodplains and its watershed. There are a variety of sources for this information. Federal Emergency 
Management Agency (
FEMA
) maps are available for most communities. The 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
 will do floodplain 
delineation on a cost-sharing basis and has information on floodplains and project levees. The 
Department of Water Resources 
(DWR)
 also has floodplain information and a 
floodplain management program
, as does the 
Central Valley Flood Protection 
Board
. The 
OES 
and DWR have information on past flooding and flood levels based on awareness mapping. Local levee districts 
and resource conservation districts may also have information to share. 
The 
Central Valley Flood Protection Plan
 (adopted pursuant to 
SB 5, the Central Valley Flood Protection Act of 2008
) aims to 
revamp insufficient levee, bypass, and other flood defense mechanisms to create a more integrated and hazard-averse flood 
management system. Carrying implications for Central Valley land use, conservation, and safety planning in floodplain zones, 
the 2012 
Central Valley Flood Protection Plan
 (CVFPP) documents the condition of all of the region’s state and federal flood 
management facilities and guides improvements to flood hazard prevention along the Sacramento River and San Joaquin 
Rivers. All cities and counties within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley were required to amend their general plans by July 
2015 to contain the data and analysis in the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan and include goals, policies, and objectives 
based on that plan, as well as relevant implementation measures (
Gov. Code § 65302.9
).
Key Terms
Flood management is defined as the overarching term that encompasses both floodwater management and floodplain management.
Floodwater Management
Floodwater management includes actions to modify the natural flow of floodwaters to reduce losses to human resources and/or 
to protect benefits to natural resources associated with flooding. Examples of floodwater management actions include containing 
flows in reservoirs, dams, and natural basins; conveying flows via levees, channels, and natural corridors; managing flows through 
reservoir reoperation; and managing watersheds by decreasing rainfall runoff and providing headwater stream protection.
Floodplain Management
Floodplain management includes actions to the floodplain to reduce losses to human resources within the floodplain and/or to 
protect benefits to natural resources associated with flooding. Examples of floodplain management actions include minimizing 
impacts of flows (e.g., flood-proofing, insurance); maintaining or restoring natural floodplain processes (e.g., riparian 
restoration, meander corridors, etc.); removing obstacles within the floodplain voluntarily or with just compensation (e.g., 
relocating at-risk structures); keeping obstacles out of the floodplain (through subdivision and zoning decisions); education and 
emergency preparedness planning (e.g., emergency response plans, data collection, outreach, insurance requirements, etc.); and 
ensuring that operations of floodwater management systems are not compromised by activities in the floodplain.

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Government Code 65302(g):
(3)  Upon the next revision of the housing element on or after January 1, 2014, the safety element shall be reviewed and updated 
as necessary to address the risk of fire for land classified as state responsibility areas, as defined in Section 4102 of the Public 
Resources Code, and land classified as very high fire hazard severity zones, as defined in Section 51177. This review shall 
consider the advice included in the Office of Planning and Research’s most recent publication of “Fire Hazard Planning, 
General Technical Advice Series” and shall also include all of the following:
(A)  Information regarding fire hazards, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(i)   Fire hazard severity zone maps available from the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(ii) Any historical data on wildfires available from local agencies or a reference to where the data can be found.
(iii) Information about wildfire hazard areas that may be available from the United States Geological Survey.
(iv) General location and distribution of existing and planned uses of land in very high fire hazard severity zones and 
in state responsibility areas, including structures, roads, utilities, and essential public facilities. The location and 
distribution of planned uses of land shall not require defensible space compliance measures required by state law 
or local ordinance to occur on publicly owned lands or open space designations of homeowner associations
Fire Hazards
Requirement Description:
There are many opportunities to address fire protection, fire prevention and hazard mitigation in the general plan, most 
obviously in the safety element which deals with all manner of natural and man-made hazards to life and property. California’s 
increasing population and expansion of development into previously undeveloped areas is creating more “
wildland-urban 
interface
”  with a corresponding risk of economic loss caused by wildland fire. The changing climate, specifically the rising 
temperatures and increasing temporal variability of water availability, continues to  increase wildfire risk in many areas. 
Meanwhile, drought episodes with greater frequency and severity effectively lower fuel moisture conditions to create longer fire 
seasons, and combined with overstocked vegetation vulnerable to insects and diseases, produce an abundance of dead woody 
matter prime for intense burning.  
Mitigating Hazards through Drought Resiliency Plans 
The onset of severe droughts in California poses considerable threats to public safety and wellbeing by increasing fire hazard 
susceptibility and straining already scarce water resources. Drought’s toll on crop yields, livestock production, and local 
community water sources create food and water security concerns, in addition to economic considerations, that showcase the 
importance of proper preparedness plans. Climate change will likely foster more consecutive disasters – for example, droughts 
followed by fires, or floods followed by drought – prolonging recovery of natural resources and compounding total recovery costs.

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