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<br />.. <br /> <br />The first official floodplain map was adopted by Ordinance 3701 on April 6, 1971. The map contained <br />detailed information for Boulder Creek and South Boulder Creek from a study by the U.S. Army Corps of <br />Engineers and estimated floodplain limits for the tributaries determined by Wright-McLaughlin Engineers. <br /> <br />Ordinance 3927 created the Storm Water and Flood Management Utility on August 21, 1973. The utility <br />provides storm water and flood management services by means of an enterprise. The enterprise is funded with <br />monthly utility fees and development initiated plant investment fees. <br /> <br />In the two years following, City Council adopted revised floodplain mapping for Boulder Creek and a new <br />floodway definition. The floodway was defined as those areas in the floodplain where flows are two feet per <br />second or greater, depths are two feet or greater, or to the point beyond which full encroachment into the <br />floodplain from its edges would raise flood elevations by more than 0.5 feet. A prohibition of new residential <br />structures in the Boulder Creek floodway soon followed. However, no prohibitions were applied to the <br />tributaries since the floodway had not been defined for these areas. <br /> <br />On October 8, 1973, the Boulder Creek Subcommittee on the Corps of Engineers Committee on Environmental <br />Planning (CECEP) presented City Council with a nonstructural improvements policy for Boulder Creek, <br />entitled the Flood Control Plan - Boulder Creek. Nonstructural improvements for floodplain purposes means <br />methods that do not involve structural changes or channelization of the main creek, except for limited structural <br />features such as bridges at roadways. City Council adopted the plan by Resolution No. 141 as "Nonstructural <br />Flood Control Policies for Boulder Creek" on August 20, 1974. This policy has been implemented through <br />preservation and restoration of the Boulder Creek greenway, through acquisition and removal of high hazard <br />structures (such as the recent acquisition and removal of the 299 Arapahoe, 20-unit apartment building at Eben <br />Fine Park), through construction of flood barriers (including the Canyon Point levee along Canyon Boulevard <br />and Crossroads floodwall), through elevating and flood proofing buildings, and through grading modifications <br />outside of the riparian creek corridor (Boulder Creek Acquisition Project at Boulder High School). <br /> <br />Viele Channel was the first major drainageway improvement to be realized. It was completed in 1976 and <br />extended from Viele Lake to its confluence with South Boulder Creek. The channel was improved in such a <br />manner that it was believed to have removed south Boulder's Keewaydin and Frasier Meadows neighborhoods <br />from the floodplain. The work was funded with the DDFCD. <br /> <br />In 1977, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a study entitled the Metropolitan Denver and South <br />Platte River and Tributary Study. The study provided a reanalysis of the Boulder Creek hydrology, increasing <br />the 100-year flood discharge from 7,600 cubic feet per second to the current 12,000 cubic feet per second. <br /> <br />Boulder joined the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1978. The NFIP is the Federal Emergency <br />Management Agency (FEMA) program that enables property owners to purchase flood insurance in <br />communities that agree to implement measures to reduce flood impacts. Required measures include adoption of <br />a federal Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), local floodplain regulations, permits for floodplain development, <br />inspection for compliance, maintaining records of floodplain development, helping residents obtain flood <br />information, floodplain master planning, and storm water maintenance activities. The first FIRM for Boulder <br />was effective on July 11, 1978. <br /> <br />Muller Engineering restudied the Boulder Creek floodplain in 1981 in conjunction with local efforts to <br />redevelop Crossroads Mall. MSM Engineering developed the first detailed floodplain study for the <br />tributaries to Boulder Creek in 1983. This new study extended floodway regulations to the tributaries for the <br />first time, causing a great deal of controversy in the community and ultimately resulted in FEMA's issuance of a <br />3 <br />