Hazard Mitigation Plan
Consultation has concluded. Thank you for participating!
As an Arvada resident, you may be familiar with the natural hazards we face as a community. Flood, winter storm, wildfire, and more events are part of life in the Front Range of Colorado. By identifying our risk, assessing our vulnerability, and strategizing actions for addressing these natural hazards, the community is more resilient to them. Hazard mitigation is defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as “any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to human life and property from a hazard event.”
A major part of our resilience as a City is our participation in the Jefferson County Hazard Mitigation Plan. This plan is a multi-jurisdictional effort to reduce the impacts of disaster events on citizens and property in our community. In 2021, a multi-departmental team is collaborating with other municipalities, special districts, and the county on the update process. You can view the final version of the 2021 Jefferson County Hazard Mitigation Plan including the draft version of the City of Arvada annex here: https://www.jeffco.us/488/Hazard-Mitigation-Plan.
Resident feedback was incorporated throughout the plan development and review process. The Jefferson County website will be updated with the 2021 plan in early 2022 after the plan is approved by FEMA.
Public Comments
CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.
Who's Listening
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Community Resilience Coordinator
Email MRyder@arvada.org
We moved to Arvada five years ago and bought a house in a floodplain near Ralston Creek, being told by the owner that insurance would cost $1,000/year, hearing about a flood mitigation plan the city was coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and knowing that the city had recently done work on Van Bibber Creek. So we believed it would be a short-term situation. Five years later, nothing has moved forward and our insurance costs $2,200/year. Most concerning, climate change will only heighten the risk. It feels like our entire neighborhood has been ignored as other massive projects move forward in the city, so I'm hopeful the city will take action quickly to preserve homes in an area that could soon become a historic neighborhood and that recently has attracted a lot of young families.
Ralston Creek reshaping/widening projects, runoff mitigation/regulation, and other mitigation projects along the Ralston Creek corridor to minimum flooding risks.
Please reconsider an Amazon facility at 68th and Indiana. Residents and access to retail businesses will be negatively affected as well as people who often travel this corridor. Surely there is another location to consider which has the road infrastructure to accommodate multiple large vehicles.
Disaster events will become less and less predictable with climate change. I suggest the city take a harder look at integrating resiliency into the Comprehensive Plan and other guiding documents (including the HMP). A 5-yr timeline for identifying risks and mitigation goals seems pretty short sighted.
Floodplain, riparian corridor, and open space protection are issues of critical concern. New and existing developments adjacent to these sensitive areas should be regulated and monitored so as not to negatively impact these resources.
Stormwater runoff needs to be closely regulated and monitored especially during severe precipitation events. We have experienced flooding beyond “ floodplain limits” in recent past along the Ralston Creek.
Something needs to be done about the homeless camping at I25 and Kipling. Garbage, begging, drugs and general filth left. The police get called but nothing seems to change. We are not a ghetto and I’ve certainly seen this area change in the past 5 years. Does anyone else feel this way?