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<br />; <br /> <br />IV. ANALYSIS <br /> <br />A. Overview <br />The city of Boulder has had floodplain policies in place for over 30 years. During this time the city has been <br />effective in mapping 100-year floodplains to identify flood hazard areas, developing master plans to pursue <br />mitigation of flood impacts and creating a Storm Water and Flood Management Utility to fund ongoing <br />activities in floodplain management. The utility today receives annual revenues of approximately $5 million that <br />are applied to operating activities, emergency preparedness, storm water quality, storm water maintenance and <br />capital improvements. The floodplain management program was one of the first nationwide and was recognized <br />as a progressive leader in the field. <br /> <br />Local floodplain policies must also recognize multiple community objectives and balance overall community <br />goals with the protection of Boulder citizens. Community goals that include maintaining affordable housing <br />stock, fostering alternate modes of travel and maintaining quality of life may affect floodplain policies and the <br />manner in which they are implemented. These policies must address the flood hazard considering flexible <br />alternatives that maintain the livability of the city. This requires an adjustment of policies from time to time to <br />better protect and serve the citizens through multiple and creative approaches. <br /> <br />Boulder floodplain policies have not been updated since adoption of the CDUMP in 1989. As a result, our local <br />floodplain management program has fallen behind the progression of national and regional trends and <br />philosophies, and the nonstructural floodplain policy objectives outlined in the early years of our floodplain <br />management program have never been fully realized. As the city moves forward in updating its floodplain <br />management policies, there is a renewed opportunity to readjust our objectives to implement Boulder's original <br />vision for floodplain management and regain a national leadership role in this field. <br /> <br />Over the last several decades, flood losses have continued to increase in the wake of traditional programs that <br />seek to control flooding through structural measures such as constructing channels, dams, floodwalls and levees. <br />It is recognized that our continued encroachment into floodplains coupled with lack of available funding for <br />structural mitigation measures will continue to increase our risk for flood damages. There are also concerns that <br />structural improvements designed for the 100-year storm only may fail from larger flood events; more than half <br />of national flood losses have resulted from storms of greater than 100-year magnitude. The national and regional <br />frontier has been taking on new directions to address these challenges. <br /> <br />Boulder also faces other challenges in addressing flood hazards. With the implementation of our Open Space <br />greenbelt community buffer, local growth management and the desired community population goals to ensure <br />the current quality of life, Boulder is a community that is near "build-out." This suggests that our primary focus <br />in floodplain management should apply to developed areas already existing in the floodplain (given that most <br />floodplain structures in Boulder were constructed prior to adoption of floodplain regulations). This greatly <br />affects the notion that new raw-land development activities will play the major role in achieving floodplain <br />objectives. With less available land for growth we may expect to experience new pressures to increase density <br />and redevelop existing areas in the floodplain. Instead of emphasizing floodplain policies that provide a <br />guideline on how to develop in the floodplain, the greater value in floodplain policy may be to emphasize <br />incentives to avoid further encroachment into flood hazard areas, increase flood preparedness and better educate <br />citizens about living with and managing the hazard. <br /> <br />In addition the many critical environmental factors predominant in floodplain lands suggest that the approach to <br />floodplain management should be oriented towards preservation of floodplains and their beneficial <br />environmental functions and less toward structural measures. There is evidence that our local floodplain policy <br /> <br />5 <br />