COLORADO GEOLOGIC HAZARD REGULATIONS, IMPLEMENTATION, AND CASE STUDY

Colorado land planning law provides communities with different ways to identify and regulate geologic hazards, including debris and mud flows. In Colorado, rapid growth increases the pressure to develop potentially hazardous areas, including areas prone to wildland fire and mud flows, which historically were avoided.

Local governments attempt to address hazard mitigation while accommodating growth through hazard studies, subdivision regulations, and master and community planning. Some of the items that will be discussed include:

1) The difficulty of presenting detailed technical studies and issues to non-technical decision makers; 2) An assessment of current hazard regulations and the implementation process; 3) Various sediment yield models; 4) FEMA alluvial fan flooding guidelines; 5) Construction related sediment-laden flows; 6) Integration, or lack thereof, of drainage reports and hazards.

The main purpose of the presentation is to begin a discussion on how development professionals and local governments can work together to improve awareness and mitigation of debris and mud flow hazards.