FLOOD09315

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: General Principles of Drainage Law Outline
• Date: 1/15/1980
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

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1-15-80

detention facilities which may be dedicated
to the county or the public, as are deemed
necessary to control, as nearly as possible,
storm waters generated exclusively within a
subdivision from a one-hundred year storm which
are in excess of the historic runoff volume of
storm water from the same land area in its
undeveloped and unimproved condition;"
C.R.S. ~30-28-133 (4)(b).

IV.

FLOOD PLAIN MANAGEMENT.

Flood plain management involves fuller use of non-structural
techniq..les. See e.g., C.R.S. ~24-65.1-202 (2)(a)(1). Such techniques
include: (1) Flood plain zoning and buildin~ code ordinances to
regulate flood area construction; (2) Flood insurance programs; anu
(3) Flood warnin" systems, includint; notification to occupants of
flood plains. See Westen, Gone With the Water - Drainage Rights
and Storm Water Management in Pennsylvania, 22 ViII. L. Rev., 901,
972 (1976-77).

A. Flood Plain Regulations.

1. Constitutional Considerations.

The general principles of zoning were established
in Village of Euclid v. Amber Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926), in
which the U.S. Supreme Court stated:

"While the meaning of constitutional guarantees
never varies, the scope of their application must
expand or contract to meet new and different
conditions which are constantly coming within the
field of their operation."

The court in Colorado has determined that zoning is justified as
a valid exercise of police power, and that this legal basis for
zoning legislation must be reconciled with the legitimate use of
private property, in harmony with constitutional guarantees.
Westwood Meat Market, Inc. v. McLucas, 146 Colo. 435, 361 P.2d
776 (1961); People ex rel. Grommon v. Hedgcock, 106 Colo. 300,
104 P.2d 607 (1940).

2. Statutory Grants of Power.

Specific legislative action has given local govern-
ments authority to proceed in flood plain regulation. In Colorado,
cities, counties, and The Urban Drainage and Flood Control District
all have plenary grants of power.

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