FLOOD10340

• County: Weld
• Community: Pierce
• Stream Name: Spring Creek
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Pierce - Spring Creek Correspondence
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Correspondence

Meeting Summary
John Liou provided an excellent overview of the National Flood Insurance Program including its
purposes, FEMA's role, and the importance and uses of floodplain maps. He explained the
concept of floodplains, floodways, flood fringes, and the 100-year (1% chance) flood event.
John also provided a brief history of his knowledge of activities and study needs for Spring Creek
in Pierce. An acknowledgment was made that the floodway is the high hazard portion of the
floodway, and that development activities/fill are unacceptable unless an engineer can
demonstrate "no rise" in the floodway due to proposed changes. Finally, the split floodway on
the west side of the railroad tracks seems to be unnecessary and it is John's opinion that the
floodway should only be defined on the west side of the tracks.

Tom Browning stated his concurrence with John's presentation and professional opinions. Tom
displayed a copy of the FEMA Floodway Map for meeting attendees and re-iterated the concerns
related to the split floodway. He also described the hydrologic information and explained the
differences between the effective FIS peak flows and a newer 1990 study conducted by the
NRCS. The CWCB endorses the 1990 hydrology that would reduce the 100-year flow from
8,000 cfs to around 5,600 cfs. This reduction in flow could be beneficial in reducing the mapped
flood hazard area in Pierce. Finally, Tom mentioned that Town officials could make a request
for a low interest loan, or possibly a grant, from the CWCB Construction Loan Fund. This
would only occur after the new floodplain study was developed and if a flood control project was
warranted and found to be feasible.

The CWCB requested study funding from FEMA through the Cooperating Technical Community
(CTC) program. Pierce was identified as one of the top priorities in the state for floodplain
mapping revisions. The money has been secured, and the CWCB will be contracting with the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete the engineering study and floodplain delineations for
submittal to FEMA. The goal is to provide a completely revised floodplain map for Pierce. John
provided a timeline (estimated schedule) for completing the study. Realistically, it may take
about 2 years until the final study is published. A field survey will be required at the onset of the
study to obtain new cross-sections and topographic information for the hydraulic modeling.

Meeting attendees were concerned about the length of the proposed study schedule and John and
Tom informed them that landowners could hire a consulting engineer and request a Letter of Map
Revision. This would place the cost burden on the landowner(s), but would greatly reduce the
amount of time to obtain an official map revision from FEMA.

Members of the audience during the meeting asked a significant number of questions. John and
Tom fielded the questions to the best of their ability. The community was generally very
appreciative to have the meeting, and felt like many issues were clarified and many lingering
questions had been answered. FEMA and the CWCB will continue with the study process and
will notify the community when key milestones are reached.

Flood Protection · Water Project Planning and Financing. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation Planning