California Coverage · Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County base maps & site data for designers
The existing-conditions base map and pre-design site analysis that normally takes a half-day across county GIS portals and hand-tracing into CAD — for any South Bay address, from Palo Alto to the Los Gatos foothills, in about a minute.
What Lekua resolves in Santa Clara County
Every layer below is pulled at export time from county, state and national GIS sources the moment you enter an address — no manual tracing, no generic insets, and the sheet cites which source drew each layer.
County parcel boundary with APN, address, and lot area from the hosted Santa Clara County parcel service.
Fine 1–2 ft contours generated on-demand from the 1-meter USGS 3DEP elevation model — the county’s own contour service isn’t publicly reachable, so this is the finest data available off the shelf.
The county’s own building footprints from its early-2020 lidar flight (598,591 structures, published on data.sccgov.org), gap-filled with national data for anything newer — the sheet names which.
The county’s 2020 lidar footprints carry a per-building height and base elevation on the same row as the outline, so structures extrude from measured grade countywide; Cupertino’s city layer stands behind it. Where a record carries no height, the structure is labeled as having none rather than drawn at a confident wrong number.
Jurisdiction resolved across the county’s 15 cities. Setback tables encoded and code-cited for Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto (PAMC 18.10.040 and 18.12.040) and Los Altos (LAMC 14.06.080 to 14.12.080), which passed review and draw the envelope, and for San José (SJMC 20.30.200 Table 20-60), Sunnyvale (SMC 19.34.030 Table 19.34.030) and unincorporated county land (cited, not yet drawn).
CAL FIRE FHSZ severity with Zone 0 / 1 / 2 defensible-space perimeters drawn around structures — pointed where it counts in the Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Almaden foothills.
USDA SSURGO soil profile, historical rainfall, and modeled seasonal sun-hour heat maps for the parcel.
California natives matched to the site’s soil and microclimate, plus the serving water supplier’s lawn-replacement rebate, shown only while it was verified on the supplier’s own page within 60 days.
Tuned for the South Bay’s foothill fire interface
The Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Almaden foothills sit in mapped fire-hazard severity zones, and defensible-space planting rules now shape those hillside projects. Lekua draws the CAL FIRE Zone 0 / 1 / 2 perimeters on the plan and filters the plant palette to what each zone allows.
- Zone 0 (0–5 ft ember-resistant), Zone 1 (5–30 ft), and Zone 2 (30–100 ft) perimeters drawn around the structures.
- Every recommended plant carries a defensible-space zone rating, so you place the right species in the right zone.
- Flammability ratings draw on Las Pilitas burn-time research and UCANR / CAL FIRE-aligned fire-safe lists.
Zoning setbacks, by jurisdiction
Setbacks in Santa Clara are set per town, not countywide. Lekua resolves the parcel’s jurisdiction and zone code and encodes each jurisdiction’s adopted setback table, citation and all. Setback rings are drawn only after a table passes independent panel review — until then the export carries the code-cited values with an explicit “unverified” advisory instead of lines we can’t stand behind.
A native palette, enriched beyond the plant list
Start from the Calscape native plant database — then get the research-backed traits Calscape alone doesn’t put at your fingertips, matched to the parcel’s mapped soil, sun, rainfall, and microclimate. Hand a client a list checked against the code, climate-appropriate, and built to perform.
Flammability and defensible-space zone suitability from Las Pilitas burn-time research and UCANR / CAL FIRE-aligned fire-safe lists — not just a name on a list.
Slow / moderate / fast growth plus mature height and spread, so spacing and time-to-fill are realistic from day one.
Calscape cultivation and longevity guidance, so the palette reads for how it performs over 10–20 years, not just at install.
WUCOLS-aligned water-use ratings (for the MWELO budget) and pollinator / bird support scores on every species.
Plant data: Calscape / CNPS, enriched with Las Pilitas burn-time research, UCANR & CAL FIRE-aligned fire-safe lists, and WUCOLS water-use ratings.
Water suppliers
Main water suppliers in Santa Clara County: Valley Water · San Jose Water · City of Santa Clara Water & Sewer.
Santa Clara County base map FAQ
Can I get a CAD base map for a Santa Clara County parcel?
Yes. Enter any South Bay address and export a layered DXF (AutoCAD-compatible) with county parcel lines, building footprints, on-demand 1–2 ft contours, spot elevations, and zoning — plus a designed PDF site report for the client.
What contour interval is available in Santa Clara County?
The county’s own contour service isn’t publicly reachable from the cloud, so Lekua generates fine 1–2 ft contours on-demand from the 1-meter USGS 3DEP elevation model — hillside-grade relief for the foothill lots where grading matters.
Does it include zoning setbacks for South Bay cities?
The parcel’s jurisdiction is resolved across the county’s 15 cities, and setback tables are encoded with citations for Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto (PAMC 18.10.040 and 18.12.040) and Los Altos (LAMC 14.06.080 to 14.12.080), which passed review, so their envelopes are drawn, and for San José (SJMC 20.30.200 Table 20-60), Sunnyvale (SMC 19.34.030 Table 19.34.030) and unincorporated county land (cited on the export, not yet drawn). Setback rings are drawn only after a table passes independent panel review; until then the export carries the code-cited values with an explicit “unverified” advisory and always labels the zone determination honestly.
How does it handle defensible space and fire-safe planting?
Lekua draws CAL FIRE Zone 0 / 1 / 2 defensible-space perimeters around the structures and tags every recommended native with the zones it’s suited to — using flammability data from Las Pilitas burn-time research and UCANR / CAL FIRE-aligned fire-safe lists.
Are the building heights on a Santa Clara County base map measured or assumed?
Measured, wherever the county record carries one. The county’s 2020 lidar footprints carry a per-building height and base elevation on the same row as the outline, so structures extrude from measured grade countywide; Cupertino’s city layer stands behind it. A structure whose record has no height is labeled as having none — the sheet prints an explicit no-data note instead of a plausible number, because a wrong ridge height is worse on a shade study than an admitted gap.
Is the data current and reliable enough for submittals?
Layers are pulled live from county GIS, USGS, and CAL FIRE at export time, and any encoded setback table cites its source with a date. Everything is labeled “for planning reference — not for construction.” Verify against the current code and a stamped survey before submittal.
Start with a Santa Clara address
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