Why a decision needs to be defensible
A clearance or a denial can be challenged by the applicant or by residents. 'It looked risky' does not hold up. The basis has to be named and traceable.
Pulling and reading the raw NOAH, PHIVOLCS, and MGB layers by hand for every application is slow, and not every office has a GIS specialist on staff.
Different reviewers can read the same lot differently. A shared, documented method keeps decisions consistent across a team and over time.
What the report gives you
Recognized sources
UP NOAH flood, landslide, and storm-surge layers; PHIVOLCS and GEM active faults; MGB-DENR geohazards; PSA NAMRIA boundaries. The same data the national government uses.
Named thresholds and buffers
Every cutoff is stated in the report: the fault-distance bands, the 50 m and 200 m flood proximity buffers, the volcanic distance rings. Nothing is a black box.
Legal constraints flagged
Automatic checks against the NSCP 2019 fault setback (5 m no-build) and the Water Code easements (3 m creek, 20 m river, 40 m shore), so a no-build situation is caught early.
An open methodology page
The full derivation, formula by formula, lives at a public URL you can cite in a decision memo or hand directly to an appellant.
How planners use it
- 1
During review
Run the applicant's address and read the measured exposure against your local ordinances and the named buffers.
- 2
In the decision memo
Quote the report's findings and link the methodology page as the basis. The reasoning is reproducible by anyone who runs the same address.
- 3
At appeal
Because every source and threshold is named, the same inputs produce the same result. The decision rests on documented public data, not on opinion.
Scope and honesty
CheckHazard surfaces and explains public hazard data; it is decision support, not a substitute for the office's own ordinances, ocular inspection, or a licensed geodetic or geotechnical survey where one is required.
The liquefaction layer is a clearly labeled screening estimate, because the authoritative PHIVOLCS map is not yet openly licensed. It never sets a property's headline rating.