14.10.320 Standards for shallow flooding areas (AO zones).
Shallow flooding areas appear on FIRM’s as AO zones with depth designations. The base flood depths in these zones range from one to three feet above ground where a clearly defined channel does not exist, or where the path of flooding is unpredictable and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is usually characterized as sheet flow. In these areas, the following provisions apply:
(1) New construction and substantial improvements of residential structures within AO zones shall have the lowest floor (including basement) elevated above the highest grade adjacent to the building, one foot or more above the depth number specified on the FIRM (at least two feet if no depth number is specified).
(2) New construction and substantial improvements of nonresidential structures within AO zones shall either:
(a) Have the lowest floor (including basement) elevated above the highest adjacent grade of the building site, one foot or more above the depth number specified on the FIRM (at least two feet if no depth number is specified); or
(b) Together with attendant utility and sanitary facilities, be completely floodproofed to or above that level so that any space below that level is watertight with walls substantially impermeable to the passage of water and with structural components having the capability of resisting hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads and effects of buoyancy. If this method is used, compliance shall be certified.
(3) Require adequate drainage paths around structures on slopes to guide floodwaters around and away from proposed structures. (Ord. 377 § 5.4, 1996)