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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />THE MAI<ING OF A DISASTER RESISTANT COMMUNITY- <br />STEP 1 PROACTIVE FLOODPLAIN MANGAGEMENT <br />Marsha M. Hilmes, City of Fort Collins <br />1998 CASFM Conference, September 30 - October 2, 1998 <br /> <br />ABSTRACT <br /> <br />FEMA has undertaken a new initiative called Project Impact with the goal of making communities more <br />disaster resistant or sustainablE!. Other organizations are also instituting similar types of programs. As <br />Colorado's first designated ProJect Impact community, Fort Collins would like to share our philosophy on <br />this effort. <br /> <br /> <br />We feel the first step in working towards making a community more disaster resistant is proactive <br />floodplain management. By looking toward the future and trying to prevent potential problems and reduce <br />damages, the community will become more disaster resistant. Proactive floodplain management involves <br />many strategies: regulations, master planning, capital projects, maintenance, acquisition of structures, <br />preservation of open space, education and outreach, and hazard identification. Floodplain management <br />is also intertwined in many of the policies and planning issues that a community faces -land use, growth <br />management, parks, natural areas, redevelopment, emergency response, zoning, and many others. <br /> <br />Fossil Creek is a good examplE! of how proactive floodplain management through a combination of land <br />use pianning and preservation of open space has worked in Fort Collins. Fossil Creek is characterized as <br />a meandering stream that has a considerable amount of lateral instability. It is located in south Fort <br />Collins in a rapidly deveioping area. The City was able to establish local floodplains and erosion buffer <br />zones before development came in to these areas. Because of the natural character of the stream and <br />the instability problems, the best method for reducing flood damages was to keep development out of <br />both the floodplain and the erosion buffer zone. <br /> <br /> <br />Floodplain regulations are probably the most important component of floodplain management. Fort <br />Collins has had higher regulatory standards than FEMA for many years. This includes elevation <br />requirements, developed flows, half-foot f1oodway, and critical facilities regulations. Even with these high <br />standards, there was still loss of life and hundreds of millions of dollars in property during last year's flood <br />(> SOO-year flood on Spring Cn~ek and several smaller drainages). Fort Collins is currently undertaking a <br />review of our policies related to development in the floodplain. Should they be even stricter? Absolutely <br />no development? What about redevelopment? What about personal property rights? Are all types of <br />floodplains (urban vs. natural) treated the same?, etc. These are the types of questions we are currently <br />trying to address. We don't have the answers to all of these questions, but we feel they are important <br />topics that need to be discussed if we are going to continue to make Fort Collins a "disaster resistant <br />community". <br /> <br />Author Information: <br /> <br />Marsha M. Hilmes <br />Floodplain Administrator <br />City of Fort Collins Utilities <br />P.O. Box 580 <br />Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 <br /> <br />Phone: 970-224-6036 <br />Fax: 970-221-6593 <br />e-mail: mhilmes@ci.fort-collins.co.us <br />