Drainage Studies

A drainage study is required to analyze the impact of a proposed development on the surrounding infrastructure and must be approved prior to the submittal of Civil Improvement Plans.  The City of North Las Vegas has adopted the criteria for drainage studies provided by the Clark County Regional Flood Control District’s Hydrologic Criteria and Drainage Design Manual.  Additionally, we have compiled a supplementary City of North Las Vegas Drainage Study Checklist that is required to be included with all initial drainage study submittals.  Prior to submitting a drainage study for review, a pre-submittal meeting must be arranged with Dan Le, P.E. (contact information provided above). The drainage study must be ready to submit when the meeting occurs.  If the study is deemed complete at the pre-submittal meeting, it may be submitted immediately along with the appropriate review fee listed below.

The fee schedule for drainage study reviews are listed below:

*Single home residence only = $200

Other submittals

**For township areas and locations where City of North Las Vegas Water or Sewer are not required.

All submittals require two bound copies of the study, wet stamped City of North Las Vegas Draining Study Checklist, wet stamped Clark County Regional Flood Control District’s Standard Forms 1 and 2, Drainage Study Submittal Application, and a check for the appropriate review fee. The City of North Las Vegas Drainage Study Checklist provides an engineer with a comprehensive list of factors to analyze that are of interest to the City in any drainage study submittal. It is the hope that this checklist will minimize the number of reviews necessary to obtain approval.

For drainage studies that are designing any Regional Flood Control Facilities, all necessary structural drawings and calculations must be submitted and approved with the drainage study. Studies designing local facilities that require structural drawings and calculations may be conditionally approved with the structural aspects being submitted with the Civil Improvement plans for the site.

Note that drainage study updates are defined as studies that are minimally revising hydrology/hydraulics or for establishing or revising finished floor elevations for a structure that was previously analyzed by a technical study. The engineer will determine if your study meets the requirements of an update at the required pre-submittal meeting.

Drainage Study Waivers

For projects that are less than 2 acres, that are outside of a Federal Emergency Management Agency Special Flood Hazard area, that are not constructing any offsite improvements and that are not adjacent to a CCRFCD facility or corporate boundary, a drainage waiver may be request. The application must be filled out and stamped by a licensed Civil Engineer in the State of Nevada and must be accompanied by the $250 review fee. 

Outsourced Drainage Study Review

The City of North Las Vegas provides an outsourced review of drainage studies with a guaranteed turn around time of three weeks. To be eligible for the outsourced review process, the candidate project must meet the following criteria:

1. Be considered by the City to be relatively free of potentially complex technical issues (i.e., large developments, complex designs, significant drainage impacts, multi-jurisdictional review, etc); and

2. Be less than 40 acres for a residential/multi-family development or less than 30 acres for a commercial/industrial development;

In addition to all of the requirements and fees noted in the Drainage Study section of this page, Outsourced submittals must have a pre-submittal meeting with DFC staff, and an additional fee of $4,200 for an initial study or $2,500 for an update. All fees due at the time of submittal. If the approval process exceeds two reviews (initial and one addendum) then the study is kept in house for all subsequent reviews until the study is approved. Additional fees may apply.

Neighborhood Studies

The City of North Las Vegas has two areas of the city that are incorporated into Flood Control Master Plan areas for local drainage facilities.  Conformance to and utilization of the studies is discussed in the City of North Las Vegas Drainage Study Checklist. The study areas are defined below:

1. North Neighborhood Flood Control Master Plan (NNFCMP): This neighborhood study area is generally bounded by Decatur Boulevard on the west, Grand Teton Drive on the North, Union Pacific Railroad on the east and Ann Road, the Western Tributary to the Las Vegas Wash and Craig Road to the South.  The study established flow rates, intersection grades, and local facilities for the area. 

2. Apex/Kapex Flood Control Master Plan (AKFCMP): This study area consists of the entire APEX/KAPEX area of the valley, north of I-15, west of US93 and east of the mountains.