Aerial view of a narrow paved road with two cars winding in switchbacks through oak-covered foothills with grassy clearings.

Fire rebuild

Rebuilding in Paradise, Magalia or the Ridge? Surveys, plot plans and septic coordination for your permit

Corner surveys, plot plans, grading plans and elevation certificates for Camp Fire, Park Fire and North Complex lots, from a Chico-based team with two members from Paradise.

Start your rebuild request Call (530) 682-7679 See what the checklist asks for

Fire rebuilds on the Ridge and in nearby burn areas

American Engineering is a land surveying and civil engineering firm based in Chico. For owners rebuilding after the Camp, Park and North Complex fires, we prepare the corner survey, plot plan, grading and drainage plan and elevation certificate a rebuild permit can call for. We also stake the house before the foundation goes in and coordinate with your septic evaluator or designer.

This page covers the Camp Fire area (Paradise, Magalia, Concow, Yankee Hill and Butte Creek Canyon, 2018), the Park Fire area (Cohasset and Forest Ranch, 2024) and Berry Creek, which burned in the North Complex in 2020.

Inside the Town of Paradise, the Town's checklist spells out what the permit counter wants. Outside the Town limits, the other communities file with Butte County, which sets its own requirements. Either way, the agency decides; we prepare the survey and plan sheets its checklist asks for.

Town of Paradise

What the Town's rebuild checklist asks a surveyor or engineer for

Inside the Town of Paradise, the current residential rebuild checklist lists these items, and it asks for the survey on site-built homes, manufactured homes and metal buildings alike. They are what the permit counter asks for; the Town reviews the package and decides.

  • Survey and corner certification

    "1 survey completed by a land surveyor or civil engineer licensed in land surveying," with the Town's Land Surveyor's Certification form and an exhibit showing the corners found and set.

  • Site/plot plan

    Drawn to an engineer's scale, with 1 inch = 20 feet preferred: all property lines, easements, lot dimensions, streets, structures, and required and proposed setbacks. See plot plans for building permits.

  • Septic from the as-built

    The septic tank and leach field drawn on the plot plan from the as-built on file with the Town.

  • Grading and drainage plan

    Required if grading exceeds 50 cubic yards. Every application also includes the Town's Grading & Best Management Practice form. See grading plans.

  • Elevation certificate

    For properties in a Special Permit Zone, prepared by a civil engineer, surveyor or architect. See elevation certificates.

  • Separate well and septic permits

    Where needed, a well construction or deconstruction permit from Butte County Environmental Health, and a permit for septic installation, replacement, repair or tank destruction.

From that list, we prepare the survey and certification, the plot plan, the grading and drainage plan and the elevation certificate. The same checklist asks for evidence of a passed post-fire septic evaluation or a septic repair permit before the building permit is issued; see septic on the Ridge. Read the Town's checklist (PDF).

Where to file

Which office you file with

It depends on which side of the Town limits your lot sits.

Inside the Town of Paradise

Building permits for rebuilds go through the Town's Building Resiliency Center, 6295 Skyway, Paradise. The Town's Onsite Wastewater Division, in the same building, issues septic permits and keeps the as-built records your plot plan is drawn from.

  • The Town's Pre-Design Screening helps verify parcel data, setbacks, zoning, septic and leach line location, and any Special Permit Zone before you submit
  • A new well needs the Town's well clearance before Butte County issues the well construction permit

Outside the Town: Butte County

Magalia, Concow, Yankee Hill, Butte Creek Canyon, Cohasset, Forest Ranch and Berry Creek are in unincorporated Butte County, so permits go through county offices in Oroville.

  • Butte County Development Services handles building permits; the county's site plan requirements cover where the lot and buildings sit, setbacks to every property line and building, easements and a north arrow
  • Butte County Environmental Health, 202 Mira Loma Drive, Oroville, handles well and septic permits
  • The county sets its own grading threshold; we confirm it for your parcel before design

Each office sets its own checklist and decides what it approves. We prepare the survey and plan sheets those checklists ask of a surveyor or engineer, and we answer review comments on them.

Process

How the survey, plot plan and septic pieces fit together

Six steps from parcel records to a staked foundation.

  1. Send the parcel details

    Send the address or APN, your deed or title report, and what you plan to build. We pull the recorded maps and corner records for your lot and its neighbors.

  2. Survey the corners

    Crews search for the record monuments on your lot and, where needed, on neighboring lots. Found corners are verified and exposed; missing ones are reset with tagged monuments. Inside the Town, the certification form and exhibit go with your permit package.

  3. Settle the septic question

    Inside the Town, the post-fire septic evaluation or repair permit comes before the building permit. A Town-licensed septic evaluator does the evaluation. If repairs are needed, a licensed C-36, C-42 or A contractor, or you as an owner-builder, applies for the repair permit. We share the survey with them.

  4. Draw the plot plan

    Property lines, easements, lot dimensions, streets, structures and setbacks go on the plot plan at an engineer's scale, with the septic tank and leach field drawn from the as-built on file.

  5. Add grading or an elevation certificate if needed

    Inside the Town, grading of more than 50 cubic yards calls for a grading and drainage plan, and a lot in a Special Permit Zone calls for an elevation certificate. In the county, we confirm the county's own grading threshold for your parcel.

  6. Submit, then stake the house

    You or your builder submit the package, and we answer review comments on our sheets. Before the foundation, construction staking sets the house corners from the surveyed lines.

After a fire

Corners, pins and lot lines after a fire

Debris removal and heavy equipment can destroy or move survey monuments, and a fence that burned may never have been on the line. Before a house goes back up near a setback, the corners need to be found or put back.

  • Town of Paradise checklist

    Found and verified, or set again

    The Town's Land Surveyor's Certification has the surveyor state that the record monuments were found, verified and exposed for inspection, that missing corners were set or reset, or both. A letter-size exhibit shows the deed lines, the adjoining rights of way and each corner found or set.

  • Bus. & Prof. Code §§8762(b)–(c), 8765(d), 8772

    New monuments go on the record

    Each monument a surveyor sets is tagged with the licensee's L.S. or R.C.E. number (§8772). A survey that sets corners no recorded map shows, or finds a material discrepancy, needs a record of survey (§8762(b)), filed within 90 days (§8762(c)). A retracement that matches the recorded map and finds enough monuments needs only a corner record for corners set or reset (§8765(d)). See records of survey and corner records.

  • Bus. & Prof. Code §8774

    Surveyors may enter neighboring lots

    Monuments that control your lines can sit on a neighbor's lot. A licensed land surveyor has a right of entry to look for boundary evidence; owners and tenants must allow reasonable access without undue delay and, where practicable, be told the proposed time of entry.

  • Civ. Code §841

    When a neighbor rebuilds a fence

    Adjoining owners share responsibility for maintaining the boundaries and monuments between them. Build the new fence from surveyed corners, not from the old fence line.

Paradise Municipal Code Title 17 sets the minimum property-line setbacks, and the Town verifies them at the first building inspection. Construction staking sets your house corners from the surveyed lines before the foundation goes in.

Septic

Septic on the Ridge

Inside the Town, the septic records show where the tank and leach field sit and how many bedrooms the existing system was approved for, so septic comes early in a rebuild.

  • A passed evaluation before the permit

    Inside the Town, you need evidence of a passed post-fire septic evaluation or a septic repair permit before the building permit is issued. Parts of the old system you plan to reuse need a passing post-fire evaluation.

  • The as-built sets the drawing

    The plot plan shows the tank and leach field from the as-built on file. The Town posts its available as-built information, with location maps and septic capacity details, in its online map under a Septic Capacity layer and updates it regularly; see the Town's as-built lookup.

  • Listed evaluators and designers

    The Town's published list of qualified site evaluators and designers is a 2021 edition with five names; it says others "may be added to this list upon their request and review of their experience and certifying credentials." Evaluating an existing system is separate: only a Town-licensed septic evaluator can do it inside the Town limits, and the Town publishes a list of licensed septic system evaluators. Ask the Onsite Wastewater Division whether a list is current.

  • County-certified designers

    In unincorporated Butte County, the county's onsite wastewater manual reserves certain systems, including steep-slope, non-residential and supplemental-treatment systems, for a county-certified designer. Certification is a county authorization, not automatic with an engineering license, and the county is updating its well and septic rules.

  • Wells share the lot with septic

    A new well inside the Town needs a well clearance plot plan at 1 inch = 20 feet, showing a 100-foot radius around the well that stays inside your property lines and clear of the septic system and its replacement area. The county well permit follows.

Where we fit: American Engineering is not on the Town's evaluator or designer lists and is not a Butte County certified designer. On a Ridge rebuild, we draw the septic system on the plot plan from the as-built on file and coordinate with the listed evaluator or designer you hire where the Town or county requires one. We do not locate buried tanks or lines. Our septic system design page explains how septic design works in California.

Buyers and absentee owners

Buying a burned lot or owning from out of the area

Check these before you close, while there is still time to ask questions.

  • Corners

    Whether the record monuments survived, and whether the lot on the ground matches its deed and recorded map. A boundary survey answers both.

  • Septic status

    What the as-built shows, how many bedrooms the existing system was approved for, and whether it has passed a post-fire evaluation. Outside the Town, ask Butte County Environmental Health.

  • Special Permit Zone

    Inside the Town, whether any part of the lot is in a zone, which brings additional plan review and an elevation certificate.

  • Easements

    Recorded easements listed in the preliminary title report, plotted on the survey map where they can be located from their written descriptions.

  • Legal access

    Whether the lot fronts a public road or depends on a recorded easement to reach one.

If you live out of the area, we can work from the APN, your deed and the recorded maps, send the sealed survey and plot plan as PDF and CAD files by email, and meet your agent or builder at the lot. Agents and escrow officers can start at agents, escrow and title.

Past work and people

Our Ridge-area work and team

Centerville Road links Chico and Magalia through the Butte Creek watershed, in the Camp Fire burn area; Humbug Summit Road runs from the Skyway to the Almanor Basin. On both projects we worked for a watershed consulting firm.

  • Camp Fire burn area

    Centerville Road Stream Crossings

    Topographic surveys, culvert sizing calculations and culvert replacement plans for 18 stream crossings on 2.4 miles of Centerville Road, for a watershed consulting firm on a project sponsored by the Butte County Resource Conservation District.

  • Lassen National Forest

    Humbug Summit Road Realignment

    Surveys of 2.14 miles of Forest Service roads, including 10 stream crossing sites, and plans to move Humbug Summit Road out of Willow Creek Meadow, for a watershed consulting firm on a Lassen National Forest project planned with the Butte County RCD.

  • Our people

    Meet the team

    Licensed civil engineers and a licensed land surveyor, based in Chico. Engineer Whyatt Nixon and land surveyor Nicholas Quedens are from Paradise.

Paradise and Ridge rebuild FAQs

Do I need a new survey if my pins are gone?

Inside the Town of Paradise, yes: the residential rebuild checklist asks for a survey with a certification of corners whether or not your pins survived. The surveyor finds, verifies and exposes the record monuments that survived. Where any are missing, the surveyor sets new tagged monuments and files a corner record or record of survey with Butte County. Outside the Town, Butte County decides whether your permit needs a survey. Only a licensed land surveyor, or a civil engineer authorized to practice land surveying, can reset missing corners.

Can the survey, plot plan and septic coordination be one request?

Yes. One request can cover the corner survey and certification, the plot plan with your septic system drawn from the as-built on file, and, where your project needs them, a grading and drainage plan and an elevation certificate. The septic evaluation or design itself comes from an evaluator or designer on the Town's lists, or from a Butte County certified designer where the county requires one. We are not on those lists, so we coordinate with the one you hire.

Do you cover Concow, Yankee Hill, Cohasset and Berry Creek?

Yes. We are based in Chico and serve Butte County and the northern Sacramento Valley first, including Paradise, Magalia, Concow, Yankee Hill, Butte Creek Canyon, Cohasset, Forest Ranch and Berry Creek; projects elsewhere in California are by arrangement. Outside the Town of Paradise, these communities are in unincorporated Butte County, so their permits go through county offices in Oroville.

Should I get a survey before buying a burned lot?

If you can, yes. A survey before closing shows whether the corners survived, whether the lot on the ground matches its deed and recorded map, where recorded easements with a defined location run, and which public or private roads border it. Check the septic records and, inside the Town of Paradise, any Special Permit Zone at the same time, because both affect what you can build.

How do I find out whether my lot is in a Special Permit Zone?

Special Permit Zones are a Town of Paradise designation for areas inundated by flooding in a base flood event (Paradise Municipal Code Chapter 8.55). To check a parcel, open the Town's online map, turn on the Special Permit Zones layer in the Layers tab and look for blue shading on your lot: light blue means less flooding, dark blue more. The Town's Pre-Design Screening also checks for the zone. A lot in a zone needs additional plan review and discretionary approval. The Town's checklist asks for an elevation certificate prepared by a civil engineer, surveyor or architect.

Further reading

Sources & references
  1. Residential Building Permit Checklist, with the Land Surveyor's Certification for Building Permit (PDF) (Town of Paradise, Building Resiliency Center)
  2. Septic and onsite wastewater (Town of Paradise, Onsite Wastewater Division)
  3. Onsite Septic Permits (Town of Paradise)
  4. As-built lookup for septic records (Town of Paradise)
  5. Qualified Site Evaluators and Designers of Onsite Septic Systems, 2021 edition (PDF) (Town of Paradise)
  6. Septic Evaluations (Town of Paradise)
  7. Licensed Septic System Evaluators, 2025 (PDF) (Town of Paradise Onsite Wastewater Management Zone)
  8. Well Clearance (Town of Paradise)
  9. Special Permit Zones (Town of Paradise)
  10. Local Agency Management Program: Onsite Wastewater Ordinance and Manual (PDF) (Butte County)
  11. Well & Septic Ordinance Updates (Butte County)
  12. 2026 Professional Land Surveyors' Act, Business and Professions Code §§8700–8805 (Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists)
  13. Business and Professions Code §8774, surveyor right of entry (California Legislative Information)
  14. Civil Code §841, boundaries, monuments, and dividing fences (California Legislative Information)

Last reviewed .

Services for a Ridge rebuild

Each service page explains what's included, when you need it and the California rules that apply.

  • Boundary Surveying

    Corners found and verified, or reset, with a sealed map of your property lines and recorded easements.

  • Record of Survey & Corner Records

    The county filing that puts reset corners on the public record when state law requires it.

  • Plot Plans for Building Permits

    Property lines, easements, structures, setbacks and the septic from the as-built, drawn to the counter's checklist.

  • Grading Plans

    Grading and drainage plans when your project moves more earth than the Town or county threshold.

  • Elevation Certificates

    FEMA's form with surveyed floor and grade elevations, for a lot in a Special Permit Zone or a mapped flood zone.

  • Construction Staking

    House corners and grades set in the field from the surveyed lines before the foundation goes in.

See our Chico & Butte County service area

Fire rebuild

Rebuilding on the Ridge?

Send the address or parcel number, what you plan to build, and the checklist or comments your permit counter gave you. We'll confirm the scope and deliverables before work starts.

Start your rebuild request Call (530) 682-7679