Longmont awarded $1 million FEMA grant for flood mitigation

Matthew Bennett, Daily Times-Call, Longmont, Colo.
·2 min read

Mar. 25—Longmont will receive approximately $1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for phase one of the Hover Road reach portion of the Resilient St. Vrain Project.

The project extends from just upstream of South Sunset Street to immediately upstream of Hover Road, according to Longmont Engineering Administrator Josh Sherman.

This FEMA grant will not fund any construction. Instead, it will cover planning efforts such as data collection, environmental studies, floodplain permitting and design plans.

Sherman said that the data collection portion of the project would include topographic and tree surveying, utility locating and subsurface utility engineering.

The city already completed a full environmental assessment, which resulted in a finding of no significant impact. However, updated wetland delineation, bird nesting surveys and other environmental studies still need to be completed to ensure compliance with that original assessment.

"The primary goal of the Hover Road reach proposed channel improvements is to cut off the out-of-bank flows west of Hover Road that occur in a major storm event and redirect those flows back to the main stem of the St. Vrain," Sherman said in an email.

"Once this project work is complete the city will remap the floodplain to show how the 100-year (1% annual chance) flood flows will be contained within the channel."

In addition to the roughly $1 million FEMA grant, the city will contribute approximately $432,000 to cover the remaining cost of phase I of the Hover Road reach project.

The project is currently funded in the city's capital improvement program.

The goal is for preliminary design work to start this year on phase I of the project, and for it to be completed sometime in 2025. From there, another 12 to 18 months would be necessary for final design work, permitting, construction bidding and contracting.

Construction, itself, is slated to take an additional two years.

"Once complete, the Hover Road reach will mitigate future flood risks along St. Vrain Creek for all properties east of Hover Road, which includes the majority of the developed portion of the city," Sherman said.

The city applied for the grant via FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program in December 2021. The program provides funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments so that they can develop mitigation plans and rebuild in a way that minimizes the impact of future disasters in their respective communities.

A FEMA spokesperson said Monday that upon successful completion of phase 1 of the Hover Road reach project, the city may be eligible for construction funding for phase 2.