Commission hears Sacramento County 2026 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan update; city earns Class 7 community-rating benefit

City staff provided an overview of the Sacramento County 2026 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan update at the Dec. 9 Planning Commission meeting, describing the regional planning effort, timelines, and expected community benefits.

Principal Civil Engineer Daniel Care, one of the city's designees for the plan update, said the mitigation plan is a multi-jurisdiction effort led by Sacramento County that includes about 32 participating agencies and stakeholders. “We update these every five years,” he said, and officials plan to submit the updated plan to the California Office of Emergency Services in 2026.

Care stressed the plan's role in eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pre- and post-disaster funding and its connection to the National Flood Insurance Program's community rating system (CRS). He reported that Citrus Heights has been confirmed at CRS Class 7 for the first time, which the city estimated will yield at least a 15% flood-insurance discount for residents for the next five years. Care also cited a 2019 National Institute of Building Sciences estimate: “For every dollar spent on mitigation, it saves society an average of $6 in avoided losses,” underscoring the fiscal rationale for mitigation projects.

Care listed the natural hazards under review countywide and for the city's annex: climate change and sea-level rise (where applicable), drought and water shortages that affect urban forestry and tree mortality, earthquakes and liquefaction risk, localized flooding, landslides and mudslides (noted as more countywide), severe weather including extreme heat and high winds, groundwater subsidence, wildfire smoke and air-quality impacts, and invasive aquatic species.

Staff encouraged public and stakeholder participation. Care said the update process includes steering-committee meetings (dates scheduled, locations to be determined), and he invited interested parties to contact him to join the committee. He outlined the schedule: a draft to stakeholders in August, public circulation for comment in October, and planned submission to the California Office of Emergency Services in December 2026; final adoption by Citrus Heights City Council would follow after state approval.

Care noted outreach measures such as utility-billing notices, press releases and social-media postings to alert residents about opportunities to review and comment on the draft. The commission did not take formal action on the mitigation plan during the meeting; staff framed the presentation as informational and solicited engagement ahead of the public comment period.