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<br />The width may run from a few feet in some cases to several miles in <br />other cases. <br /> <br />Mr. Kroe~er: Are there any in the audience that would like to ask <br />questions up to this point? <br /> <br />Mr. Wri~ht: My name is Kenneth Wright. 1 live in Boulder, Colorado. I <br />1 have some comments, but they pertain also to the regulation and for <br />that reason I think it might be more orderly if I made my comments on <br />both subjects at the same time after the floodplain regulation was <br />introduced by Mr. Sparks. <br /> <br />Mr. Kroester: We will be glad to grant you that time. Would' anybody <br />like to comment at this point? Up to this time, is there anything that <br />you would like to ask questions about? All right, Larry, shall we go <br />on? <br /> <br />Mr. Starks: Mr.' Chairman, I might .point out that we have in our budget <br />this iscal year the sum of $160,000 to assist in floodplain studies. <br />However, this money was originally budgeted over a year ago and was <br />requested on the basis of specific floodplain identification. That is, <br />the completed job. Now we are in somewhat of a quandry as to whether <br />or not we should divert part of that money to this general identifica- <br />tion that is due by 1976. <br /> <br />On the floodplain regulation, the regulation itself is the only reason <br />that we are going to designate floodplains in the first place. One of <br />the: problems over the years is that we have done a number of floodplain <br />studies and they have gathered dust after they were prepared. Not <br />many local agencies have utilized those floodplain studies, except in <br />the last two or three years. Previously almost. universally they were <br />disregarded. We started this program in 1960 and the first report was <br />issued in 1963. Since that time we have had reports being completed <br />every year. These studies are worthless unless they are utilized. The <br />problem of bow you utilize them has caused great concern throughout <br />the entire United States. Most states today are grappling with the <br />same problem and many have started sooner than we did. There are a <br />number of various floodplain ordinances or regulations in existence to- <br />day throughout the United States. <br /> <br />We started compiling a library on these various ordinances several years <br />ago. We have done a fairly detailed investigation of the various ordi- <br />nances that exist throughout the United States today. We are not satis- <br />fied with any of them. One of the problems is that the conditions I <br />vary greatly from one state to another. For instance, the flood char- <br />acteristics in Colorado are vastly different from flood characteristics <br />in the Mississippi or Ohio River valleys where the waters are of low <br />velocity, build up gradually and spread out over great distances. Our <br />floods are inclined to be of rather short duration and high velocities <br />without any great spreading. <br /> <br />As we reviewed the various floodplain ordinances it seems to us that <br /> <br />-4- <br />