FLOOD04031

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: All
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Subdivision Design in Flood Hazard Areas
• Date: 9/1/1997
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: FEMA
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

The best way to reduce flood damages and protect
the environment is to avoid building in floodplains. But
economic, political, and market pressures, as well as the
legal limitations of government-imposed prohibition of
development on land, make development in flood
hazard areas the only option in some communities.
Methods must be found to mitigate the impacts of
development and reduce potential for flood losses while
still allowing property owners some reasonable use of
their land. The US. Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), through the National Flood Insurance
Program (NFIP), is committed to finding ways to reduce
loss of life and property to flooding by ensuring that
new development is adequately protected from flood
damages. AP A has a demonstrated commitment to
promoting land-use planning that balances
community growth and economic development needs
with environmental protection. And while the
requirements of NFIP have been somewhat successful
in reducing flood damages and minimizing losses,
there is still room for improvement through better
subdivision design.
This report advocates an approach to residential
subdivision design in flood hazard areas that makes use
of the full range of available land-use planning
techniques to reduce flood damages and minimize
impacts on floodplains. It recognizes the dual goals of
the United States Congress, FEMA, and many states and
local governments to reduce the loss of life and
property caused by floods and to protect and restore the
natural resources of floodplains. Land-use and
environmental planners and floodplain managers are

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Preface

invited to consult this report as they prepare plans and
land development controls that aim for the optimal use
and protection of the floodplain.
Chapter 1 offers an overview of the environmental
and policy context in which floodplain management
and subdivision planning, regulation, and design takes
place. This includes a description of the National Flood
Insurance Program (NFIP), including relevant
definitions, mapping procedures, and the Community
Rating System (CRS), which allows a community to
reduce flood insurance premiums for property owners
if it meets a wide range of floodplain management
objectives. It also describes the legal and constitutional
framework for subdivision regulation and floodplain
management. Chapter 2 addresses the natural functions
of the floodplain and describes the range of tools that
are available to protect these functions. Chapter 3
describes fundamental land-use planning activities-
comprehensive planning, zoning, and subdivision
control-and their relationship to floodplain
management. It also describes other techniques, such as
cluster development, transferable development rights,
greenways, and setbacks, that have been used to protect
floodplains. Finally, Chapter 4 provides a detailed
description of site design and planning techniques to
protect properties from flooding and to preserve the
natural functions of floodplains. A design hierarchy is
presented that recommends four approaches to
subdivision development in or near floodplains.
Additional detail on how NFIP requirements and CRS
relate to land-use and site planning are also provided
throughout Chapters 3 and 4.