FLOOD00390

• Designation Number: 496
• County: Washington
• Community: Otis
• Title: Floodplain Information Report - Otis, Washington County, CO
• Date: 8/1/1985
• Designation Date: 5/1/1999
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT

Local Ordinance Requirements

Communities whieh manage their floodplains in Colorado do so most often through the loeal
regulatory proeess. This requires a eommunity to adopt an ordinance or regulation whieh sets forth
the performanee standards by whieh development will oeeur in identified flood hazard areas.
Nationwide and in Colorado, regulations are enforeed within the area of the 100-year floodplain.

The basie requirement ofthese regulations is that new development and signifieant improvement of
existing development eannot oeeur in the I DO-year floodplain without a floodplain development
permit being obtained. Obtaining sueh a permit requires eomplianee with engineering standards. In
eommunities that have at least some detailed floodplain information on their FIRMs, the
engineering standards require that residential buildings must be elevated above the 100-year
elevation and that non-residential buildings must be either elevated or floodproofed. Other
struetures or projeets (i.e. bridges, eulverts or fill) must be eonstrueted in a way that minimizes the
potential inerease in flood elevations they may eause. Communities like Otis that have some
detailed information on other maps have the eapability of regulating to a more stringent standard by
using that detailed information in those areas where it is available. In eommunities that have
approximate floodplain information as well as detailed information. For those eommunities, there
are two sets of engineering standards, the more stringent regulations deseribed above for the areas
of detailed mapping and more general regulations for the areas of approximate mapping. Within
the areas of approximate mapping struetures must be built with materials and teehniques that
"minimize flood damages". The use of engineering teehniques presented in this report ean help the
Town of Otis to better regulate its approximate floodplain areas.

Flood Insurance

Flood insuranee is made available to owners and oceupants of floodprone property through the
federal government's National Flood Insuranee Program (NFlP). The NFlP insurance is available
to anyone in any eommunity that partieipates in the NFIP. At the time of this publieation, the Town
of Otis was partieipating in the NFlP. Otis was a partieipant in the Emergeney Phase of the NFlP
when the original FHBM was prepared and offieially entered the Regular Phase of the NFlP on
August 19, 1985, when the FHBM was converted to the FIRM. Communities become partieipants
by adopting floodplain regulations, adopting an NFlP map (if one exists) and agreeing to eooperate
with the federal government in the loeal implementation of the NFIP. Property owners and
oeeupants ean then eontaet an insuranee agent familiar with the NFlP (perhaps their own agent) and
purehase insuranee through that agent, mueh like they would purehase homeowner's insuranee.
Broehures and other information regarding the National Flood Insuranee Program ean be obtained
by calling the Regional Offiee of the Federal Emergeney Management Ageney (FEMA) in Denver
at [phone].

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