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Living With the Saint Vrain

Community Planning Assistance Team Report

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The town of Lyons, Colorado, located about 12 miles north of Boulder, was one of the places in northern Colorado most drastically affected during the historic floods of September 2013. The landscape was severely altered as a result, particularly the Confluence neighborhood where the North and South Saint Vrain Rivers merge. Lyons suffered heavy damage to homes, infrastructure, parks, and the river corridor. CPAT provided technical assistance to Lyons as it faced difficult decisions on how to redevelop in a way that supports the community's goals for sustainable neighborhood design, affordable housing, environmental preservation, resilience, and economic sustainability.

The team's report represents a collaborative process involving the Town of Lyons, its elected officials, staff, and citizens; the State of Colorado; the CPAT project team; and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. The report provides design-based planning options, policy recommendations, and best practices to emulate as Lyons continues to recover from the 2013 flood.

Meet the Team

Gavin Smith, AICP
Team Leader

Gavin Smith, Ph.D., AICP

Gavin Smith is an associate research professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also executive director for UNC's Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters, and executive director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence. Following Hurricane Katrina, Smith worked in the Mississippi Office of the Governor, serving as the director of the Office of Recovery and Renewal. He also served as the assistant director for Hazard Mitigation in the State of North Carolina where he administered mitigation and disaster recovery grant funds in excess of 800 million dollars associated with 10 presidential disaster declarations leading to the acquisition and relocation or elevation of more than 5,000 and 500 homes respectively.
David Perkes
Team Member

David Perkes, AIA

David Perkes is a licensed architect and Professor for Mississippi State University. He is the founding director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, a professional outreach program of the College of Architecture, Art + Design. The design studio has assisted in the renovation of hundreds of damaged homes and over two hundred new house projects in Biloxi and other communities. Perkes has a Master of Environmental Design degree from Yale School of Architecture, a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Utah, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Utah State University. In 2004 he was awarded a Loeb Fellowship from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Perkes is part of a four-person national team to receive the 2011 Latrobe Prize from the American Institute of Architects.
Darrin Punchard, AICP
Team Member

Darrin Punchard, AICP, CFM

Darrin Punchard, AICP, is a principal consultant with MWH Global, where he serves as the Americas Region Leader for Risk Services. He is an urban planner and floodplain manager who has spent his entire career working with local communities to become more resilient to disaster. He has nearly 20 years of experience in hazard mitigation planning with specialized expertise in risk assessment, benefit-cost analysis, and the development of actionable mitigation strategies to include structural and non-structural measures for risk reduction. Punchard prepared some of the nation's first federally approved hazard mitigation plans following passage of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and to date has assisted more than 500 communities in similar planning efforts. His public service career includes serving as the State Hazard Mitigation Officer for North Carolina, and as a state and local hazard mitigation planner in Florida.
Andy Rumbach
Team Member

Andy Rumbach, Ph.D.

Andrew Rumbach is an assistant professor in the Department of Planning & Design at the University of Colorado Denver. He holds a doctorate and a master's degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a bachelor's in Political Science from Reed College. His research examines the relationships between urbanization and environmental risk, with special focus on the vulnerability of marginalized communities to natural hazards and global climate change. He has done applied research on disaster recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans, American Samoa following the 2009 earthquake and tsunami, and Colorado after the 2013 flash floods. He is currently completing a multi-year study of disaster risk in Indian cities, focused on the state of West Bengal.

Details

Page Count
47
Date Published
Oct. 31, 2014
Format
Adobe PDF
Publisher
American Planning Association National

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Purpose of the CPAT Initiative

Guiding Values

Program Background

Executive Summary

Project Overview

Brief History

The 2013 Flood Event, the Initiation of the Recovery Process, and Key Challenges

Impact on Housing

Lack of Developable Land

Disaster Risk Reduction in the Confluence: Operationalizing Resilience in the Town of Lyons, Colorado

How Did We Arrive at Our Recommendations?

Local Plan and Policy Review

Plans & Policies Reviewed

Methods

Findings & Implications

Design-Related Observations and Options

Living with the River, Including its Assets and Risks

Living Within and Adjacent to the Floodplain

Enhancing the River Landscape and Trail System: Riparian Buffers and Public Access

Expanding Lyon's Legacy of Parks and Open Space: Redefining the Park System

Connecting Parks and Downtown Lyons

Use of Vacant Lots in the Floodplain

Resilient Housing Design in the Floodplain

Replacing Lost Housing: Goals and Potential Sites

Policy Recommendations

Improve the Mapping of Flood Hazard Areas

Adopt Post-Disaster Building Moratorium

Provide Disaster Reconstruction Guidance

Prepare a Post-Disaster Redevelopment Plan and Recovery Ordinance

Adopt Higher Floodplain Management Standards: Strategic Disinvestments in the Floodplain

Consider Joining the Community Rating System and No Adverse Impact Programs

Improve Flood Risk Communication and the Ability to Describe the Implications of Development Choices

Apply Mediation and other Dispute Resolution Techniques to Resolve Recovery Policy Issues

Enhance Existing Plans to Improve Resilience

Meet the Team

Picture Gallery