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I I - m I I I I m I m m m - I I I I I Lower Big Dry Creek Hydrologic Study 5.5 Weld County Drainage Ordinances, Programs and Policies Due primarily to the agricultural nature of the portion of Weld County in the Big Dry Creek Watershed, very little to no drainage planning has been conducted by the county along Big Dry Creek. Weld County has, however, sponsored drainage plans in other portions of the 1-25 corridor, with the closest master plan relative to Big Dry Creek being the Weld 1-25 Corridor Master Drainage Plan (Anderson Consulting Engineers 1999); however, this plan is limited to the Dacono, Frederick and Firestone areas, which drain to the St. Vrain basin, rather than Big Dry Creek. As a result of Anderson (1999) master drainage plan, a drainage authority was formed to attempt to fillld drainage improvements in the area, but it subsequently dissolved due to difficulties related to assessing fees to cover improvement costs (personal Communication with Anderson Consulting 1999). One of the challenges to managing drainage in the Big Dry Creek Watershed is the jurisdictional boundary between UDFCD and Weld County. Weld County is located outside of the UDFCD planning boundary, and there is no drainage district or authority within Weld County that addresses Big Dry Creek. Due to the un-urbanized nature of the Weld County area, it is not currently a good candidate for inclusion in UDFCD; however, UDFCD does enter into intergovernmental agreements with entities outside of its jurisdiction from time-to-time, which could be one mechanism to promote better integration of drainage planning in the watershed. The primary planning document affecting the Big Dry Creek drainage area in Weld County is the Weld County Comprehensive Plan. This pl~ encourages the preservation of agricultural land uses in Weld County and encourages development to occur in or around existing incorporated municipalities, in designated development areas, or established activity centers. One final note is that although Weld County is subject to the Phase II stormwater permit regulations, the areas subj ect to the regu1atio:a are not currently within the Big Dry Creek watershed. 6.0 PROBLEM CHARACTERIZATION: FIELD VISITS AND INTERVIEWS Since about 1997, landowners in the lower watershed have periodically raised concerns regarding flooding and erosion in the watershed. Severa11andowners indicate that they began to experience these problems in roughly the mid-1990's. This timing is believed to correspond to a "wet year" 971-179.092 Wright Water Engineers, Inc. Page 40 June 2005