BOARD00928

• Board Meeting Date: 3/10/1998
• Description: 1998 Legislative Issues - Flood Fund Proposal - Status Report - Statewide River Rehabilitation and Floodplain Management Needs Inventory - Steering Committee Report - Minutes of Feb. 18, 1998 Meeting
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
721 Centennial Building
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

STATE OF COLORADO

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Roy Romer
Governor

CWCB FLOOD FUND PROPOSAL J.mesSlochh.,d
Executive Director, DNR
A Concept Paper DMi., c. lil,. PE.
February 7,1998 Di",CW.CWCB
At its January 28-29, 1998 meeting, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB)
accepted findings and recommendations from an ad hoc Steering Committee that guided the
Statewide River Rehabilitation and Floodplain Management Needs Inventory (Needs
Inventory) proposed and authorized in the 1997 CWCB Construction Fund Bill (SB 97-008).
The Steering Committee was comprised of 18 private landowners, town and county officials,
scientists, environmental and mining representatives, and state and federal officials.

The Needs Inventory was initiated by the CWCB in response to the flood losses,
channel conveyance, and stream bank stability problems experienced statewide during the
flood events of 1993,1995 and 1997. In the 20th Century, Colorado communities have
experienced over $4.9 billion in direct flood damage to homes, businesses, public buildings
and utility infrastructure and suffered unmeasured loss of water supply capacity and
environmental quality.

. One of the Steering Committee's most important recommendations, to create and fund
a revolving loan account to assist local agencies and communities in the planning and
implementation of stream rehabilitation and floodplain management strategies, is not within
the authority of the CWCB or any other state agency. The CWCB decided to support this
recommendation and agreed to explore legislative support in'the 1998 legislative session.

This revolving loan fund could be patterned after the CWCB Construction Fund:
applications for up to 75% of floodplain improvement projects could be reviewed and
prioritized by the CWCB in open public meetings before recommended loans are presented
annually to the General Assembly for review and approval. The approved loans (presumably
ranging between $300K - $800K each) would be repaid to the fund with interest at a rate
between 0% and 7% depending on prevailing market rates and other factors. Loans from the
fund could be matched with other federal and local agency funds. In addition, limited grants
(approximately $5K each) for local planning and feasibility studies would be available.

Fiscal impacts: 2 FTE, annual appropriation of$150,000 and a revolving fund of
only $4M to provide at least 5 years assistance.

The CWCB will discuss this concept with potential sponsors (late bill status would
need to be approved by legislative leadership) and a report will be presented to the next
meeting of the Steering Committee on February 18, 1998. Please contact Larry Lang (303-
.866-3441 or [e-mail]) for further information.