BOARD00060

• Board Meeting Date: 11/19/2003
• Description: ISF Section and Flood Section - Request for Approval of Policy Regarding RICDs
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Shennan Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX, [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

To:

CWCB Members, RICD workshop attendees

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

From: Tom Browning, Ted Kowalski
Date: November 12, 2003
Re:

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

Agenda Item 20, November 20-21, 2003 Board Meeting - Stream and
Lake Protection Section and Flood Protection Section - Request for Approval of Policy
regarding RICDs;

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

Background
The Board has received three RICD applications, and held hearings on two of these three RICD
applications. The Staff is aware of at least seven other communities that are developing whitewater
parks or considering filing for an RICD for existing whitewater parks. At the July Board meeting, in
anticipation of the many RICD applications that the Board may consider in the near future, the Staff
presented the Board with a draft policy regarding RICDs that reflected some general guidelines to
serve the Board in an advisory manner to explain the terms of Senate Bill 216 and to describe the
factors that the Board will consider in future RICD hearings without binding the Board to any
particular result. The Recreational In-Channel Diversion Policy was developed with the assistance
of experts in the design, construction, and evaluation of white water parks. At the July Board
meeting, the Board directed the Staff to: 1) make certain changes to the proposed policy; 2) post the
amended policy on the website; and, 3) hold a special telephonic meeting on September 2,2003. At
the special telephonic meeting and the September Board meeting, the Board provided additional
comments to the Staff and received additional comments from the interested public. The Staff has
made the appropriate changes to the proposed policy, which is attached to the agenda of the
workshop, located in the front pocket of the Board members' notebooks. This proposed policy is
also located on the CWCB's website.

At the September Board meeting, the Board instructed the Staff to hold a workshop, in conjunction
with the November Board meeting, so that the Board may have one more opportunity to obtain input
from the interested public. The Staff has scheduled an informal workshop for Wednesday
November 19, 2003 from 8:00 am until 10:00 am at the Radisson Stapleton Plaza.

Staff Recommendation
The Staff recommends that the Board adopt the proposed Recreational In-Channel Diversion Policy
regarding technical criteria with any changes deemed appropriate as a result of public comments
made at the workshop and at the CWCB meeting. In addition, the Staff recommends that the Board
include the following additional language at the end ofthe "Hydraulic Engineering Defl11ition of
Control" section of the policy, located on page 5 of the proposed policy:

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Flood Protection. Water Supply Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning