FLOOD04440

• County: Statewide
• Community: All
• Stream Name: All
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Colorado Flood Map Modernization Business Case Plan - March 2004
• Date: 3/1/2004
• Prepared For: FEMA
• Prepared By: CWCB
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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SECTIINONE

Current Program

UDFCD conducts master planning efforts to plan for future growth and identify projects to
mitigate flood hazards and enhance water quality, identifies flood hazards through Flood Hazard
Area Delineation (FHAD) maps, and constructs flood protection and flood management
structures and assists local governments with maintenance activities. The UDFCD has its own
Storm Drainage Criteria Manual and has many flood management practices that exceed the
minimum federal requirements (such as their 0.5' rise requirement for floodways).

To date the UDFCD has signed CTP agreements with FEMA to perform a pilot DFIRM
conversion for the City and County of Broomfield, perform DFIRM conversions for the City and
County of Denver and the northern half of Douglas County, and for a pilot project to perform
Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) and conditional LOMR (CLOMR) reviews on behalfofFEMA.
The District provides equipment (computers and software), staff expertise, and funds that greatly
enhance the ability of local governments to prepare first-rate floodplain mapping. District staff
and consultants have perhaps the greatest degree of experience in Colorado (and some of the
greatest degree of experience in the country) in doing precisely what the Map Modernization
program developed by FEMA calls for. With District participation, the CWCB is confident that
the Map Modernization effort in Colorado will have a significantly greater chance of success.

1.3 RELATIONSHIP OF FEMA'S MAP MODERNIZATION PROGRAM TO
COLORADO'S FLOODPLAIN MAPPING PROGRAM

In 1998, the CWCB performed a Statewide River Rehabilitation & Floodplain Management
Needs Inventory to assess river rehabilitation and flood plan management needs for the State of
Colorado. This overview of Colorado's floodplain needs and recommendations for future action
was an important step in the CWCB's floodplain program.

In 2002, the CWCB was asked by FEMA to become involved in the preparation of a Map
Modernization Implementation Plan (MMIP) for Colorado. This request by FEMA represented
the beginning of Colorado's participation in Map Modernization activities. While Map
Modernization is a nationwide program, designed to meet the needs ofthe entire country, CWCB
saw participation in Map Modernization as an opportunity for Colorado. Map Modernization
will allow CWCB to greatly expand the activities already underway as part of the Colorado
Floodplain Mapping Program. At the end of August 2002, CWCB submitted its completed
MMIP report to FEMA. That report provided FEMA with an initial prioritization and cost
estimates for expanding the CWCB's program, with significant financial assistance from FEMA,
to develop digital floodplain mapping for all 64 counties in Colorado and all of the
municipalities within those counties.

The MMIP report was prepared with three audiences in mind. The first audience included the
cities, towns, and counties in Colorado that manage floodplains at the local level. The second
audience was FEMA, which was trying to develop a nationwide program. The third audience
was CWCB (with UDFCD), which was already working to meet Colorado's floodplain map
update needs with available state resources. To best serve all three of those audiences, the
CWCB placed a great deal of importance in the MMIP effort on participation of local officials.
The MMIP estimates relied on input from local floodplain managers about the specific map
update needs in their communities. Unit costs that were based in part on figures provided by
FEMA and its own Map Coordination Contractors (MCC's) and based in part on UDFCD

Colorado Business Case Plan - March 2004

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