09-17-07 Meeting of Drainage and Flooding Committee

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• Go beyond federal requirements. Build on the NFIP, which offers flood insurance to communities who use basic floodplain management tools. But if we had stopped there, we would have cheated our citizens in the long term. Prudent floodplain management requires an extra margin of safety, going beyond the NFIP to consider, for example, the effects of future watershed urbanization. (All that paving and piping can speed runoff and increase downstream flooding. That's why we base Tulsa's floodplain maps on ultimate watershed urbanization; require upstream detention or fee in lieu of detention; require compensatory valley storage; and require new buildings to have the low- est floor at least one foot above the predicted flood level.) k • Go for the green. With good floodplain management, a community can reap great rewards. Open 1 spaces can be used for greenway strip parks and trails, for example. Using the same land or resources to achieve multiple goals such as water quality, recreation, transportation, and flood control, all in the same project, can make every project more effective and broaden your constituency. • Don't give out. Floodplain management is a long-term proposition, and you can t sell out the long- term for short-term gains. Getting that point across to citizens probably requires an education pro- gram. Your best friend may be your local news media; in Tulsa we are blessed with aggressive local journalists and editors who understand long-term issues and help us explain them to the public. CONCLUSION Tulsa hasn't suffered a major flood in a decade, the longest flood -free period in our history. We have no record of flood damage to any building built in accord with our updated, compre- hensive regulations. Several rains have occurred that would have caused flooding previously, but the upgraded stormwater system has handled them without significant damage. We know that, inevitably, Tulsa will flood again. We believe, however, that flood dangers and damages have been immeasurably reduced because our leaders had the foresight to make a hard - willed commitment to progress. The greatest challenge in developing a flood program is finding the community will, the vision, the local leadership, and the political courage. If you have ideas to share with us, or if you would like more information, please contact Ann Patton, 515 City Hall, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103; (918) 596-7808; fax (918) 596-7265. RIDING A "WAVE" OF COOPERATION BY JOHN LABRUNE MITIGATION CONSULTANTS & ASSOCIATES FORMER UNION COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA, FLOODPLAIN MANAGER Union County is a largely rural county, population 10,500 and growing, in extreme southeastern South Dakota. It is bordered on the south by the Missouri River (adjacent to Nebraska), and to the east by the Big Sioux River (adjacent to Iowa). In the late 1980s a major utility company began assembling parcels of land at the confluence of the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers. The developers acquired approximately 2,000 acres, and a formal announcement was made that they had plans to develop this raw, undeveloped piece of unproductive land into a premiere "planned development" with areas set aside for schools, churches, a Success Stories 8