The Floodplain Management Program (SB24-179) requires Colorado to develop a permitting process by June 30th, 2025 for managing flood risk on state-owned lands in areas not covered by an approved FEMA Floodplain Plan. The penalties for non-compliance could jeopardize the state’s ability to receive federal assistance after a flood event.
This law requires the Office of the State Architect (OSA) to develop and enforce administrative processes applicable to state-owned development projects located in the Special Flood Hazard Area (regulatory floodplain). The OSA will post the Floodplain Program Policy and Procedures by July 1st, 2025. If Variance Procedures are necessary, the OSA may establish an appeals board.
Before contacting OSA, State Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education should check the project’s City, County, or Municipality for participation in the NFIP and any local floodplain development permitting requirements.
- Floodplain Definitions
100-YEAR FLOOD - A flood having a recurrence interval that has a one-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded during any given year (1-percent-annual-chance flood). The terms "one- hundred-year flood" and "one percent chance flood" are synonymous with the term "100-year flood." The term does not imply that the flood will necessarily happen once every one hundred years.
100-YEAR FLOODPLAIN - The area of land susceptible to being inundated as a result of the occurrence of a one-hundred-year flood.
BASE FLOOD ELEVATION (BFE) - The elevation shown on a FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map that indicates the water surface elevation resulting from a flood that has a one percent chance of equaling or exceeding that level in any given year.
CONDITIONAL LETTER OF MAP REVISION (CLOMR) - FEMA's comment on a proposed project, which does not revise an effective floodplain map, that would, upon construction, affect the hydrologic or hydraulic characteristics of a flooding source and thus result in the modification of the existing regulatory floodplain.
FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency responsible for administering the National Flood Insurance Program.
FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP (FIRM) – An official map of a community, on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated both the Special Flood Hazard Areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the community
FLOOD INSURANCE STUDY (FIS) - The official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The report contains the Flood Insurance Rate Map as well as flood profiles for studied flooding sources that can be used to determine Base Flood Elevations for some areas.
LETTER OF MAP REVISION (LOMR) - FEMA's official revision of an effective Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), or Flood Boundary and Floodway Map (FBFM), or both. LOMRs are generally based on the implementation of physical measures that affect the hydrologic or hydraulic characteristics of a flooding source and thus result in the modification of the existing regulatory floodway, the effective Base Flood Elevations (BFEs), or the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA).
LETTER OF MAP REVISION BASED ON FILL (LOMR-F) – FEMA’s modification of the
Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) based on the placement of fill outside the existing regulatory floodway.
NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM (NFIP) – FEMA’s program of flood insurance coverage and floodplain management administered in conjunction with the Robert T. Stafford Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The NFIP has applicable Federal regulations promulgated in Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The U.S. Congress established the NFIP in 1968 with the passage of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968.
SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA (SFHA) – The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year, i.e., the 100-year floodplain.
VARIANCE - A grant of relief to a person from the requirement of this policy when specific enforcement would result in unnecessary hardship. A variance, therefore, permits construction or development in a manner otherwise prohibited by this policy. (For full requirements see Section 60.6 of the National Flood Insurance Program regulations).