BOARD02518

• Board Meeting Date: 11/19/2001
• Description: CF Section - Referred Non-Reimbursable Investments Floodplain Mapping Program
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Due to these factors there will always be a need for new floodplain maps, At present Colorado is one
of the most rapidly growing states in the country, so the need for new maps is especially high,

Historically a large number of floodplain maps in Colorado have been prepared by three Federal
agencies (FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, the NRCS), In the Denver metropolitan area the Urban
, Drainage and Flood Control District has prepared many mapping studies, Some local governments in
other parts of Colorado (e.g, Fort Collins/Larimer County, El Paso County, Boulder County, Pitkin
County) have prepared their own studies, In the past the Board funded floodplain studies, but more
recently the Board's role has consisted primarily of technical assistance,

In recent years Federal funding for floodplain mapping has been greatly reduced, None of the three
agencies listed above has had a substantial budget for mapping until Congress made a recent change
for one of them, FEMA. FEMA completed its Map Modernization Plan to update the nation's
inventory of Flood Insurance Studies a short while ago, To date, Congress has not chosen to fund the
full $750 - $800 million plan, either through a general appropriation or through a proposed real estate
transaction fee, However, this year Congress approved approximately $50 million in funding as a first
steJ;l in the multi-year proposed plan, It is not clear at this time that there will be similar funding in
future years, but this year's Congressional action certainly marks a good start. Until Congress chooses
to provide substantial funding for the Map Modernization Plan or some similar program in the long
term, there are two likely scenarios regarding updating of outdated mapping:

I) inaction or very limited action, or
2) a substantial increase in state and local funding of mapping,

In Colorado there has not been consistent state funding of floodplain mapping for many years, Outside
of the Denver Urban Drainage and Flood Control District and a very few selected localities, funding
has been unavailable or extremely limited at the local level. In many cases, development in or near
floodplains has gone on with little or no floodplain engineering of adequate technical quality, The
result is that many maps in Colorado are simply old and/or unreliable! There is no real source of
funding to reasonably meet the needs for new maps, technical revisions, and updates, Local
governments are usually able and willing to provide cost-share funding for such, but they are not able
to carry the entire burden of the study cost.

Up-to-date and accurate floodplain mapping is the cornerstone of all floodplain management activities
in nearly every Colorado community, Floodplain mapping is a critical tool for land use decision-
making and regulation, flood insurance determinations, public safety and hazard awareness, flood
response, and flood hazard mitigation, Community officials, landowners, potential hornebuyers,
mortgage bankers, developers, and other interested parties rely on floodplain mapping to make
decisions about land use and hazards risk every day, The proposed funding from this grant request
would allow the CWCB to partner with local governments (and in some cases with the Corps of
Engineers and/or FEMA) to provide much-needed floodplain mapping revisions and updates for the
CWCB's top priority stream reaches in the state, Selected local governmental entities which requested
state financial assistance would benefit by receiving accurate and up-to-date floodplain mapping, as
described below,

Suecific Reauest
At this time, the staff of the Flood Protection Section is requesting a $100,000 non-reimbursable
investment from the Construction Fund for engineering analyses and floodplain delineation studies,
Staff proposes to conduct these analyses and studies on a statewide basis, Matching funds and/or

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