Colorado Flood Resilience Planning Program
The Colorado Department of Local Affairs established the Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Resilience Planning Program. Ninety community projects were completed program-wide by communities, watershed coalitions, and counties impacted by the declared disasters.
The wildfires and floods of 2012 and 2013 severely impacted Colorado communities including damage to an estimated 19,000 homes with approximately 1,500 homes completely destroyed. In addition, over 500 businesses were either directly damaged or suffered business interruption due to major road closures. Local community resources were also stretched as local infrastructure damages exceeded $2 billion with many communities lacking the staff and resources to manage the scale of rebuilding required following these disasters.
Resilience Planning projects were completed across five broad project categories, including developing community planning resources and specialized planning projects, that helped inform the redesign and reconstruction by the Watershed Resilience Pilot Program of a substantial amount of creeks and rivers affected by the 2013 floods.
Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) decided to prioritize the development of planning resources that could be used by other communities. Comprehensive plans were funded to help hazard-prone communities lay the groundwork for a more resilient recovery and future development. The program also prioritized planning for a more resilient restoration of rivers and creeks, and for building capacity in communities to support an equitable recovery. Finally, DOLA funded many specialized planning projects to meet the more nuanced planning needs of each community.
PROJECT GOALS
COMMUNITY PLANNING RESOURCES
User-friendly planning resources were developed to support local governments, community residents, and stakeholders both in the disaster-declared counties and across Colorado.
COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLANNING
The comprehensive plan expresses a community’s overarching vision, goals, objectives, policies, and strategies for the future growth, development, and preservation of the community.
RIVER AND CREEK PLANNING
Restoration planning efforts set up the successful implementation of construction and reconstruction efforts across all the disaster-affected watersheds.
SPECIALIZED PLANNING
From a climate change study for Boulder and Larimer Counties to a Resiliency Master Plan in Central City, communities prioritized recovery needs and completed planning work to support their recovery for generations to come.
BUILD COMMUNITY AND RESILIENCE CAPACITY
Program funds were used to increase resilience capacity in hard-hit areas through funding of local staff in affected communities or through community-building efforts.
“Resilency is the ability of communities to rebound, positively adapt to, or thrive amidst changing conditions or challenges, including human-caused and natural disasters, and to maintain quality of life, healthy growth, durable systems, economic vitality, and conservation of resources for present and future generations.”
- Colorado House Bill 18-1394
Contact us to see how we can help you with your watershed.