New FEMA regs put development on hold

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

It's not just Louisiana that is suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Bureaucratic waves from the storm are making themselves felt as far north as Fort Collins, in particular North College Avenue, where new regulations are washing out hopes for making business improvements anytime soon.

At issue are new rules from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that make it more difficult to remove properties from floodplain maps. FEMA has been on the hot seat over its handling of Hurricane Katrina, and some in Fort Collins think the agency is trying to make up for past mistakes.

The floodplain affecting North College Avenue is Dry Creek, a tributary of the Cache la Poudre River, running from northwest to southeast through the corridor. The irony of the present situation is that Fort Collins recently fixed the floodplain problem by installing extensive drainage improvements at a cost of more than $10 million. Although Dry Creek has not flooded in decades, most businesses along Dry Creek have to buy flood insurance, and they are restricted in the kinds of improvements they can make. Now that the floodplain work is done, Fort Collins is just waiting for FEMA to change its floodplain maps.

And there's the rub. FEMA recently changed its procedure for updating flood maps. While the city expected to have map changes approved by the middle of 2007, now it may take until the end of 2008 to finish the job. That means properties along Dry Creek are still technically in the floodplain. "This is an example of federal bureaucracy at its worst," said Ron Lautzenheiser, chair of the Citizen Advisory Group for the North College Urban Renewal Authority. "FEMA has us locked down because of a floodplain that is now gone." Lautzenheiser owns Big O Tires and Grease Monkey on North College.

Jim Quinlan, owner of Jax Outdoor Gear on North College, is one of those affected by the rule changes. He wants to more than double the size of the store, from 35,000 square feet to 72,000 square feet, and he has blueprints ready for the addition.

"Until the feds approve the new maps, it makes it a lot more difficult to move ahead with our project," Quinlan said.

Lautzenheiser said several other issues are affected by the new FEMA regs, including the design of infrastructure improvements on North College and tax revenues for the urban renewal authority. Until development happens, the authority receives no tax increment financing for improvements along the corridor.

Another major project in the corridor could be a new King Soopers grocery store at the corner of Willox and College, a site outside the floodplain, according to Lautzenheiser.

There is one possible bright spot for businesses located in the Dry Creek floodplain. Bob Smith, water planning manager for Fort Collins, said the city water board has the authority to override FEMA regulations, if certain conditions are met. In fact, the board already did that once in anticipation of the drainage improvements being made. That variance was made a year ago for the housing development called Old Town North, located at East Vine Drive and North College Avenue.

Smith said if the board were to approve a variance for a business such as Jax, the property would still have to carry flood insurance but would not have to build to floodplain standards.

A variance would be "a major thing" for his project, Quinlan said.

City officials are working through Sen. Wayne Allard's office to try to get FEMA to change its mind and speed up the floodplain map changes for Dry Creek, but there isn't much optimism.

"Everybody is discouraged," said council member Ben Manvel, who represents part of the North College corridor.

Molly Ford from Allard's office in Loveland said that, so far, FEMA has not been willing to make an exception for the Fort Collins situation.