Natomas is one name covering two housing markets and a flood zone that is still interim, so the honest case against living there is water and paperwork. The case for it is already written. This is the other half, and it is the half I would want if I were the one moving.
Ten would be a round number, and not an honest one. Most of what makes Natomas difficult is one problem wearing several hats, so here are six reasons, and four of them come back to the same river.
REASON ONE: THE FLOOD WORK IS NOT FINISHED, AND YOU PAY FOR IT EVERY MONTH
The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency describes the Natomas Basin as surrounded by 42 miles of levees protecting it from the American River, the Sacramento River, the Natomas Cross Canal and the Natomas East Main Drain Canal. They were raised in the early 1990s, and after the 1997 flood more was needed.
In 2006 the Army Corps of Engineers determined the basin had less than a 100-year level of flood protection because of deep under seepage. By 2013, 18.3 of the 42 miles required to meet current standards were complete, and in 2019 the Corps began the additional 24 miles needed for a minimum 200-year level.
The City states the consequence plainly: owners here with a federally backed mortgage still need flood insurance, because the levee improvements are not complete.
REASON TWO: THE DESIGNATION IS INTERIM, AND INTERIM IS CARRYING THE WHOLE SENTENCE
After the Corps re-evaluated the levees, FEMA remapped the basin into a floodplain with an AE designation in December 2008. Structures had to be elevated or flood-proofed at or above the 100-year floodplain, up to 20 feet in some areas, and the City calls what followed a de-facto moratorium.
In June 2015 the City obtained a new flood insurance rate map giving Natomas an A99 designation. Read the City’s own sentence about it: A99 is an interim designation, which is still considered a high risk flood zone, but allows construction in Natomas, with local conditions. High risk and permission arrive in the same breath, and the word to hold on to is interim.
REASON THREE: WHAT YOU CAN BUILD IS DECIDED BY THE ZONE, NOT BY YOU
The City’s construction requirements page describes the Natomas Basin as a Special Flood Hazard Area designated A99, and notes that new FEMA regulations took effect there on July 1, 2024.
For a residential structure, the lowest floor must sit a minimum of one foot above the highest adjacent 100-year event water elevation of the City’s drainage system, and at least 18 inches above the Controlling Overland Release Point in the public right-of-way, with Elevation Certificates signed by a registered engineer, surveyor or architect. The City also says not to dig, plant or build at the base of a levee, and to elevate exterior HVAC units.
If an addition or a second story is the plan, this paragraph decides how it goes.
REASON FOUR: IF YOU SELL HERE, THE FLOOD DISCLOSURE IS NOT OPTIONAL
California statutes require the seller or the seller’s agent to disclose natural hazards, and the City says flooding is one of the largest of them here. Two items belong on that disclosure: a Special Flood Hazard Area, meaning any type of zone A or V designated by FEMA, and an area of potential flooding shown on a dam failure inundation map under Government Code Section 8589.5.
Then the part that matters most. If a property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area the disclosure must state that flood insurance is required, and it is mandatory in those areas. The City describes the Natomas Basin as exactly that, and a homeowner’s policy does not cover flood damage.
REASON FIVE: IT IS STILL BEING BUILT, AND MORE THAN 1,000 ACRES ARE STILL EMPTY
The City’s economic development page says Natomas has grown rapidly since the mid-1990s, and that the area holds more than 1,000 acres of undeveloped land for future development.
So the Natomas you buy into is not the Natomas you get, and construction next door is the ordinary state of the place. Some of that open land will not become housing either: the Natomas Basin Conservancy is the plan operator for the habitat conservation plans here, protecting 22 plant and animal species, many of which are threatened or endangered.
REASON SIX: THE SCHOOLS ARE ONE DISTRICT WITH TWO ANSWERS
Most of Natomas is served by Natomas Unified, a single K-12 district, which is a genuine advantage over a town split into an elementary district and a separate high school district. It is not the whole answer, because small portions of the area fall to Twin Rivers Unified instead.
The district runs a school locator and publishes capacity information. Both exist because the answer belongs to an address rather than to the name Natomas. If a school is why you are looking here, get that address’s attendance area in writing before you offer, and get it from the district.
THE COMPARISON I REACH FOR, AND WHERE IT STOPS WORKING
The closest ordinary thing I can think of is a phone that keeps telling you an update is still downloading. It works the whole time. Calls go through, the map loads, and one day the full version arrives and you stop noticing you were waiting.
That gets the feeling right and the scale wrong. A software update is one file with one owner, and the phone never cared how long it took. Flood protection is 42 miles of physical construction across four waterways, paid for by Congressional appropriations and state money, and the missing part is what your lender is pricing.
WHAT I WOULD CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY HERE ANYWAY
None of the six rules Natomas out. Each one is a reason to know which address you are buying.
- The flood zone for that parcel, in writing, from the City rather than from a neighbor.
- What the lender will require for that loan, because a federally backed mortgage and a portfolio loan differ.
- What the zone permits you to build, before you buy a house you intend to change.
- The attendance area and capacity of the school for that address, not for the neighborhood name.
- How much of the land around it is already approved for something.
Three places worth an hour: the Natomas area page carries the local detail and both market reports, the buying process page walks the order, and the selling page covers the other end.
Question for you: if Natomas is on your list, how much of it comes down to the freeway and how much to the water?
WHEN YOU ARE READY
Let’s talk about what you want in an area.
Send me the areas you are considering and what matters most to you. I will tell you what each one is actually like, including the parts that argue against it. Nothing is committed by asking.
