BOARD01669

• Board Meeting Date: 1/14/1970
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

going to be right after lunch so if you will
bear with us we will get a map set up on the
Bijou Creek Basin.

I

I'd like to add a couple of comments
from the Corps' standpoint on this flood plain
zoning. If there is anything that makes
problems for us, some people would say that
keeps us in ~usiness, it's this business of
building in flood plains. All we can do is
prepare the information reports. There are
some helpful aspects of these reports that
haven't been mentioned. We urge distribution
to all the architectural engineering firms
and all of the lending agencies and that, of
course, puts a brake on new construction in
those areas where we have indicated that a
flood hazard exists. I think the emphasis
on environmental quality also helps zoning
ordinances because the flood plain makes a
natural green belt which is desirable for
esthetic purposes and all sorts of environ-
mental control purposes. So I think it is
going to be a whole lot easier to do in the
future than it has been in the past.

My purpose here today is to present our
potential plan of improvement in the Bijou
Creek basin and to obtain the Board's views
concerning the potential plan.

I

Our records show that at least 12 floods
have occurred in the Bijou Creek ~asin since
1878. The most memorable and most destruc-
tive flood occurred in 1965. That flood
caused more than $13 million in damages in
the Bijou Creek basin and about $32 million
in damages along the South Platte River down-
stream from Bijou Creek. The majority of
damages were sustained by crops and cropland,
railroads, state and county roads and bridges,
and by irrigation works. The business sec-
tions in the towns of Deer Trail and Byers
were almost completely destroyed. It is esti-
mated that about 156,000 acres of land in the