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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SECTIINTHREE

Program Plan

data such as erosion risk, stream instability and channel migration, landslides, avalanche
risks, ice jam flooding, dam failure inundation hazards, potential for wildfires, boundaries
of actual wildfires, and exacerbated flood risks associated with wildfires.

· Support FEMA's initiative to publish digital flood maps in-lieu of the traditional paper
FIRMs and encourage the most rapid migration possible to digital maps. This includes
the CWCB's advocation of a true digital mapping environment and total elimination of
printed map panels (or print on demand only) by January 2006.

. Designate 100-year floodplain in compliance with the CWCB Rules and Regulations for
floodplains.

These objectives, along with the details of how the specific activities associated with the
objectives will help achieve the Map Modernization goals, are described in more depth in the
sections below. After these objectives are discussed below, the requirements to achieve these
objectives are detailed in subsection 3.2. Section Four will show how the program plan will be
evaluated against FEMA performance measures. Lastly, the program objectives and
requirements will be weighed against each other for varying levels of funding in Section Five.

3.1.1 Statewide Needs Assessment

The State of Colorado initially identified a prioritized list of counties to receive map updates as
part of the 2002 Map Modernization hnplementation Plan (MMIP), which was submitted to
FEMA in 2002 and is included herein by reference only. That report is available from the
CWCB for review upon request. Since the creation ofthe MMIP, both FEMA and the state have
reviewed their initial guidance for prioritizing and selecting counties for map updates and
determined that some changes are warranted. As a result, the CWCB has revised its initial
prioritization criteria and intends to update them on an annual basis so the priority list can be a
"living" document. In doing this, the CWCB hopes to accommodate not only changes to
guidance or criteria, but also changes to watershed conditions that will alter flood risk, as well as
development booms that are anticipated or that may occur within the next 5-years. This
approach will also accommodate other factors such as "completed" mapping studies, funding
availability, and local floodplain mapping activities.

Due to changes in the natural environment and the human-impacted environment, flood risk
within the state is dynamic and should be evaluated on a yearly basis. As state agencies are
involved with or aware of many of these changes, there is frequently enough in-house knowledge
to update needs within a county or specific geographic area without detailed input from local
officials every year. However, the CWCB will make a concerted effort to conduct community
outreach by contacting local governments via email, telephone, regular mail, FEMNCWCB
CAP visits, or other methods to convey and obtain relevant flood-related information that will
assist in assessing flood hazard risk within the state.

Countywide Mapping Needs Assessment - The CWCB prioritization process involves a
quantitative, or primary, ranking of all 64 counties within Colorado, regardless of whether or not
they have received a Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (Digital FIRM). Once this quantitative
ranking is completed, the counties are divided into equal groups, or tiers of general priority. The
highest-ranking group (top 25% of counties) is then evaluated based on a qualitative, or
secondary, set of criteria to determine the map updates that will be performed for any given

Colorado Business Case Plan - March 2004

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