Elevation Certificates in San Anselmo, CA

We prepare FEMA elevation certificates and LOMA elevation data for buildings in San Anselmo, Marin County, in the creek floodplain at the head of the Ross Valley.

Elevation certificates from $1,000 · (510) 543-2220

Elevation Certificates in San Anselmo: Local Conditions

The Town of San Anselmo's flood hazard narrative explains why downtown floods so readily. As San Anselmo Creek enters downtown, it is squeezed by the series of Building Bridges below Bridge Avenue, where channel capacity is roughly 2,800 cubic feet per second, about a 5-year flood. Above that, water leaves the banks and runs through the business and residential district. Upstream, floodwater jumps the bank near Nokomis and Madrone Avenues. On Sleepy Hollow Creek, the 2005 to 2006 flood overtopped five bridges in a row, from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to Arroyo Avenue. The Town reports flood depths of 4 feet in 1982 and peak flows of about 7,200 cfs in 1982 and 6,800 cfs in 2005. The narrative also notes that the most recent FIRM update came in 2014.

San Anselmo is direct about elevation certificates. Its flood resources page tells owners to get one to measure a property's exposure to flood damage, and publishes a list of certificates already on file. It also points to Town Code 7.11 (Protection of Flood Hazard Areas) and floodplain development permits, and it requires commercial properties in the floodplain to install flood gates under a separate ordinance. The Town warns that localized flooding, such as street ponding on Bolinas Avenue at the Ross border, also happens outside the mapped floodplain. A FEMA elevation certificate answers the mapped question, and the measured grades help with drainage questions too.

For a San Anselmo flood elevation certificate we tie to a NAVD88 benchmark and measure the lowest and highest adjacent grades, lowest floor, below-grade or crawlspace levels, flood openings, and the heights of mechanical equipment, then photograph the building and sign the FEMA form. On commercial buildings we can also record the sill and threshold elevations a flood gate design depends on. Where a hillside home ends up inside a mapped zone, we can prepare letter of map amendment data and file through eLOMA when eligible. Learn more on our elevation certificate service page, compare Larkspur and San Rafael, or see surveying in San Anselmo.

Full service details, process, and deliverables: FEMA Elevation Certificates & LOMA · All surveying in San Anselmo: San Anselmo land surveying

What's Included

Signed and sealed by a California Professional Land Surveyor
Completed on FEMA Form FF-206-FY-22-152, with the required photographs
Elevations tied to a published benchmark on the flood map’s vertical datum
eLOMA submission as a licensed professional when the building qualifies
Construction-stage ECs for permits: construction drawings, building under construction, and finished construction
Sacramento region, Central Valley, Delta, and Bay Area

Our Process

Address & Flood Map Check

Send the address and the reason you need the certificate: lender letter, insurance quote, building permit, or a LOMA. We pull the effective FIRM panel, flood zone, and Base Flood Elevation before quoting, and tell you up front if a LOMA looks possible.

Benchmark Tie

We tie the site to a published benchmark on the vertical datum the flood map uses, with GNSS and a total station. Every elevation on the certificate is measured from that tie, not estimated from a contour map.

Building Measurement

We measure the top of the bottom floor, the next higher floor, the garage slab, the lowest and highest adjacent grade, the lowest machinery and equipment, and the flood openings, and take the photographs the form requires.

Signed EC, and the LOMA if It Qualifies

You receive the completed, signed Elevation Certificate as a PDF. If the lowest adjacent grade is at or above the Base Flood Elevation, we prepare the LOMA request and submit it to FEMA, through eLOMA when the building meets its criteria.

Elevation Certificates in San Anselmo: FAQ

Yes. The Town publishes a list of elevation certificates it has on file. Check it before ordering a new one. If your building has a certificate and has not been altered since, it may still be valid. If it was remodeled, raised, or the certificate is on an outdated form your insurer will not accept, we can prepare a new one.

The Town requires commercial properties in the floodplain to install flood gates and has published a flood gate design guide and ordinance. A gate has to close off openings up to the flood elevation, so the designer needs accurate threshold, sill, and floor elevations relative to the Base Flood Elevation. We can survey those along with the elevation certificate.

Only when FEMA formally revises the map, usually through a letter of map revision after projects are complete. Until then, the effective map governs insurance and permits. A certificate you get now stays valid as long as the building is not changed. What may change later is the flood elevation it is compared against.

Need Elevation Certificates in San Anselmo?

Elevation certificates start at $1,000. Call (510) 543-2220 with the San Anselmo address and we'll check the flood map and give you a fixed price.

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Private licensed surveyor, not affiliated with FEMA • Homeowners welcome • Response within 24 hours

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