Marisa Endicott, PRESS DEMOCRAT
After years of back and forth, new flood maps with major implications for property owners’ land values, insurance rates and building costs along a watershed stretching from Santa Rosa to Rohnert Park are in a final phase of review and approval.
Sonoma County challenged maps produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that come with flood insurance requirements and added building restrictions for those deemed in higher-risk flood areas of the Todd Creek watershed.
After the federal agency rejected its appeal, the county launched its own flood study in 2023, completed earlier this year. The results showed a different flood hazard designation for 289 — nearly one-third — of the 964 parcels affected, with more than half removed from a flood zone.