09-17-07 Meeting of Drainage and Flooding Committee

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We call our flood and stormwater management program comprehensive because we plan and regulate over entire watersheds, not just the lands along lowland waterways; and because it includes a broad spectrum of carefully integrated elements. Here are some key features: • Strict regulations, in floodplains and throughout watersheds, are based on performance standards that allow new buildings — if, and only if, the developers can prove they won't flood or make others flood. Our baseline priority is sound regulation, to avoid developing new flood problems. • Nonstructural flood -hazard mitigation programs include acquisition of floodprone buildings to correct existing problems. About 300 flooded homes and 200 mobile home pads were cleared after the 1984 flood. We've cleared about 1,000 buildings from floodplains so far. We prefer smaller, con- tinual, pre -flood acquisition programs that allow us to work one-on-one with owners and tenants. • Combination capital programs include open space greenbelts, channels, sewers, and stormwater detention basins. They are based on citywide master drainage plans and are funded by general obligation bonds or sales taxes, plus supplemental federal dollars. Over the past 15 years, Tulsans have committed more than $200 million to flood -management capital works. • A stormwater utility fee provides about $10 million a year for on -going system maintenance and management. Everybody contributes to flooding runoff, so everybody contributes to the fund for its management. All residences pay $2.78 a month. Business fees are based on impervious area. • Aggressive public education and awareness programs include media campaigns, direct mail, water - quality education, warning and evacuation programs. Every year, we send notices reminding flood - plain occupants that they are in a flood -hazard area and urging them to buy flood insurance. • Multiple -use facilities. Many floodplains and detention basins are used for passive or active recre- ation. Maintenance trails along channels are also used for hiking and biking, in a Tulsa Trails system that ultimately will network the city. LESSONS LEARNED Among lessons Tulsa learned the hard way: • Nature bats last. The most natural way is best. When it's feasible, preserve or clear floodplains and give the flood the right of way. The floodplain belongs to the river that carved it. • Erase your mistakes. When possible, keep buildings out of the floodplain, or move them out. Floodplains can be safely used for some purposes, such as recreation, but they are not safe places for people to sleep. It's human nature to want to rebuild after a flood, but it may be more prudent to pause and evaluate, to see if there are better options. • Marry structural with nonstructural. When it's not possible to just retain floodplains as open space, management strategies must be comprehensive and fairly sophisticated. Structural projects, such as channels or levees, may be the only short-term possibility, but they have inherent long-term negative consequences because, sooner or later, the flood will reclaim its floodplain. • Everybody pays, everybody wins. Flood disasters can divide a community, but they can also draw people together. It takes commitment from people on the hills as well as those in the lowlands to curb flooding. Success Stories 7