Los Angeles County Flood Control District Permits, Insurance and Indemnity

The District sorts its permits into two families, and applications go through the County's EPIC-LA system. Construction permits, in the words of the District's guidance brochure, allow encroachment onto or alteration of District right of way for new construction. Access permits cover discharges, temporary use and access and film scouting.

The Excavation and Temporary Use and Access permit pages list the submittals. Applicants need a contractor license number and insurance, sealed plans that show the District's right of way, a letter of authorization when the property owner is not the applicant and a plan check fee invoiced in EPIC-LA. Encroachment permits for city streets, county roads and state highways are separate processes with their own security.

• Flood Construction: Bridging, Catch Basin Relocation and Retrofit, Connection, Crossing, Encroachment, Excavation, Landscaping, Modification, Overbuild and Transfer Drain
• Flood Access: Annual Discharge, Annual Temporary Use and Access, Discharge, Temporary Use and Access and Express Flood Film Scouting

The 2013 guidance brochure said simple access and filming permits took about two weeks, while engineering permits could take several reviews of four to six weeks each. Those estimates are dated and are not a promise of current timing, but they show why a connection or bridging permit belongs on the critical path rather than in the last month before construction.

The brochure also notes that the District may require a use or maintenance agreement, and that facilities the federal government built need U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval under Section 408. An agreement of that kind can carry its own insurance, indemnity or maintenance terms, so the contractor and the owner typically read it alongside the permit before deciding who holds each obligation.

The insurance requirements sheet linked from the District's Flood Control Permit References page carries a footer revision date of October 25, 2016. It speaks of the Agency and the Permit in general terms, and it is the sheet the District links for flood permits. The general liability limits it lists are below, and it treats a $2,000,000 combined single limit policy with aggregate limits as equivalent.

For workers' compensation, the sheet asks for employer's liability of at least $1,000,000 per accident from an insurer rated at or above the State Compensation Insurance Fund. Auto liability is $1,000,000 per accident for owned, leased, hired and non-owned vehicles. The policies need a waiver of subrogation and 30 days' mailed notice of cancellation or expiration. One insurance filing may support more than one permit, and the sample shows policies staying valid until after the permit expires, so renewal dates matter on long permits.

• General aggregate: $2,000,000
• Other than products and completed operations aggregate: $2,000,000
• Products and completed operations aggregate: $2,000,000
• Personal injury: $1,000,000
• Each occurrence: $1,000,000

The sheet states that the Agency shall be named as an additional insured covering the work, whether liability is attributable to the Permittee or the Agency. It also gives required wording for the additional insured: "The County of Los Angeles and public entity or Special District for which the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the Governing Body." The certificate holder is the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, Land Development Division, PO Box 1460, Alhambra.

Many contractors carry a blanket additional insured endorsement keyed to a written contract or to the contractor's own negligence. Whether that endorsement matches the County's wording, and whether it responds where liability is attributed to the Agency, depends on the endorsement form and the facts. Comparing the endorsement to the sheet before the permit is filed typically avoids a returned application.

The Standard Flood Control Permit Provisions, footer-dated February 5, 2018, attach to District permits. The permittee, including its contractors and subcontractors, must indemnify and defend the District and the County, with counsel reasonably satisfactory to both, and hold them harmless. The provisions state that this obligation shall remain in full force and effect in perpetuity, unless the District agrees otherwise in writing.

The permittee repairs any damage to District structures at its sole cost and must remove or relocate its improvements at no cost to the District if District needs require it. The permit is revocable at any time for District purposes, with restoration on revocation. Storage in the right of way is not allowed, and fines from the Water Board, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife or the U.S. Coast Guard for pollution, along with all other costs, fall on the permittee.

The District's fee schedule, with CPI adjustments under Chapter 17.05, lists revised fees effective July 1, 2026. Permit issuance applies to every permit type, and plan check and inspection charges depend on the work. Excavation and major bridging work are billed at actual cost above the minimums shown.

• Permit issuance, all types: $180
• Plan check, connections: $235 for 1 to 6 inches, $462 for 8 to 12 inches and $1,144 for over 12 to 24 inches
• Plan check, excavations: actual cost, $1,500 minimum
• Inspection: bridging clear span $2,283; major bridging actual cost, $1,800 minimum; excavations actual cost, $1,000 minimum
• Temporary use of right of way: $115 per day rental
• Permit extension: $125

No permit bond or security deposit appears in the Standard Flood Control Permit Provisions, the permit pages or the fee schedule read for this page. That does not settle whether Public Works asks for security on a particular permit, so security, if any, is confirmed with LA County Public Works before the contractor prices the job or asks its surety for capacity. A use or maintenance agreement, where the District requires one, is another place such terms could appear.

This page covers the District's permits only. Capital construction contracts that Public Works lets for District facilities carry their own bid, bond and insurance terms in each contract's documents, and those are outside this page. Any permit security or insurance placement is subject to Public Works, the surety and underwriting, and policy terms vary with carrier guidelines and programs.