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Rationale for 7R-06 Approval-Western Mobile Page 9 <br /> Deepe Farm Pit, Permit No. M-81-302 <br /> September 15, 1997 <br /> with the unimproved levee in place. Also, it is the Division's finding that if the <br /> Deepe Farm Pit levee holds during a one percent annual chance flood, it will <br /> substantially diminish flood impacts on neighborhoods north of the turnpike <br /> and render consideration of the Commissioner's concern in this regard moot. <br /> This is because, all other factors being equal, removal of the levee or failure of <br /> the levee during a one percent annual chance flood would result in an <br /> extremely adverse effect on the prevailing hydrologic balance by substantially <br /> increasing flooding to the neighborhoods north of the turnpike. 0n the other <br /> hand, upgrades to the levee proposed in technical revision TR-06 could only <br /> have a beneficial hydrologic effect by reducing the possibility of levee failure <br /> during a flood. The Commissioners desire that the Division consider the entire <br /> levee feature, for the purpose of requiring the operator to look at alternative <br /> flood management options, has already been discussed above. Such suitability <br /> determinations are outside the Division's jurisdiction at construction materials <br /> sites. Since the Division can only act on reclamation plans, amendments and <br /> technical revisions submitted by applicants and operators, the Division cannot <br /> require alternative analyses but must act on what is submitted. <br /> b. The second of the Boulder County Commissioners' chief concerns is that the <br /> Taggart Phase III flood plain study master plan may or may not include the <br /> levee or may include the levee but with alterations from the configuration <br /> being proposed in technical revision TR-06. The Commissioners requested that <br /> the Division place a condition on the approval of the technical revision that <br /> would allow the Division to require the operator to conform the levee to the <br /> Taggart Phase III master plan that will be available at some point in the <br /> future. As discussed above, the Division neither has the regulatory authority <br /> to delay a decision on a reclamation plan that meets minimum requirements, <br /> nor does the Division have the authority to require an operator to consider <br /> alternative configurations for the levee if the plan provided by the operator <br /> meets minimum requirements. However, operators are required to comply <br /> with local codes, and if Boulder County has the regulatory authority to require <br /> that the levee conform to the master plan the County may eventually adopt, <br /> and if the reclamation permit is still in place at that time, it would be <br /> incumbent upon the operator to appropriately revise the reclamation permit <br /> to facilitate compliance with the local requirements, while maintaining <br /> compliance with the Act and Rules. <br /> C. The Boulder County Commissioners state in their August 28, 1997 letter that <br /> their concern with Deepe Farm Pit perimeter levee has been heightened by the <br /> recent catastrophic flood in Fort Collins. Since the Commissioners raise the <br /> issue of the Fort Collins flood, it is important that the issue of flash flood <br />