Past Public Meetings
Board of County Commissioners Public Hearing, Feb. 12, 2019
On Feb. 12, 2019, staff presented draft proposed text amendments to Article 4-800 of the Boulder County Land Use Code to clarify and streamline requirements for projects that require floodplain development permits. The BOCC approved (3-0) the proposed text amendments in Resolution 2019-17, effective March 1, 2019.
Documents: Staff report to BOCC for Feb. 12, 2019
Planning Commission Public Hearing – Jan. 16, 2019
On Jan. 16, 2019, staff presented proposed text amendments to the Planning Commission related to Article 4-800 of the Boulder County Land Use Code to clarify and streamline requirements for projects that require floodplain development permits. Planning Commission voted (6-0) to approve and recommend that the Board of County Commissioners approve the proposed Land Use Code text amendments as presented in Attachment A of the staff report.
Documents:
History
On Oct. 4, 2018, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) authorized Land Use staff to pursue text amendments to the Site Plan Review (SPR) provisions in Article 4-800 of the Boulder County Land Use Code (“the Code”) related to Floodplain Development Permits (FDPs).
In 2016, DC-15-0004 introduced the General FDP. The General FDP is for projects and uses in the Floodplain Overlay (FO) District that have been determined by the County Engineer to have minimal or no impact on flood hazards. Projects permitted under the General FDP are exempt from needing a Site Plan Review (SPR) process. Under the previous Boulder County Land Use Code, any project that was not covered under the county’s General FDP required an Individual FDP, and triggered an SPR process. The SPR process is for addressing land use, environmental, and public safety-related impacts of a project. However, for some types of projects that require an Individual FDP, neither the county nor the applicant benefited from going through an SPR process as there are few if any land use impacts associated with the project.
The purpose of the Code amendments was to clarify and streamline existing requirements for projects requiring an Individual FDP. The proposed Code changes still provide an appropriate level of review of flood risk and land use impacts for development proposals, as called for in the goals and policies of the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan’s Natural Hazards Element. However, the amendments better tailor the level of review to the type of project in question. This makes more efficient use of both the county’s and applicants’ resources by avoiding SPR processing time and fees for cases that would not benefit from such a process. The amendments were drafted in close coordination with staff from the Floodplain Team in the Transportation Department.