City of Longmont, Colorado
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Frequently Asked Questions
Resilient St. Vrain: Restore & Revitalize
Flood Information
- A permit is required before any construction or development can begin within any special flood hazard area (SFHA). The city requires a Floodplain Development Permit for all proposed construction or other development in the city including the placement of manufactured homes proposed within flood-prone areas. Permits are required to ensure that proposed development projects meet the requirements of the NFIP and the City of Longmont floodplain regulations. Visit the Floodplain Development Permit webpage for more details.
- Flood insurance is available for any property, regardless of whether it is located within a floodplain. Learn more on the Flood Information - Flood Insurance webpage.
- Find out whether your property is at risk for flooding by entering your address in Longmont's Floodplain Inquiry Map, available through the Flood Information - Are You in a Floodplain? webpage.
- Collaborative efforts are under way by both Boulder County and the City of Longmont to make the St. Vrain Creek capable of safely carrying up to 100-year flood flows. Learn more about Longmont's efforts on our Resilient St. Vrain webpages and find Boulder County's information on the St. Vrain Creek Master Plan.
Visit the Flood Preparedness and Safety webpage to learn what actions Longmont's Office of Emergency Management takes and how to stay connected in case of flooding in our community. And review ways to improve your property's resilience to flooding on the Protect Your Property from Flooding webpage.
- Visit our Flood Information - Status and Monitoring webpage.
- Be sure you sign up for the Longmont Reverse Emergency Notification System to receive real-time, emergency notification on devices beyond a traditional landline telephone. The system is used to notify our community if evacuation is needed. You will only receive notifications during an emergency. You can register cell phones, VoIP accounts and email accounts. The system is “geo-based,” which allows you to link your devices to your home address. If an evacuation is needed and your home address is included, you will be notified regardless of where you are (at work in Denver, out shopping, etc.).
Resilient St. Vrain Project
- Stay up to date on what's happening with the Resilient St. Vrain project by subscribing to the Resilient St. Vrain Roundup quarterly newsletter, reading posts on the Building a Resilient St. Vrain blog, or attending a public open house or event. Find all the details on the Events & Updates webpage.
This extensive, multi-year undertaking is anticipated to take 7-10 years to complete. Work will be completed in sections, moving upstream. The timeline includes periods for vegetation regrowth to protect natural habitat as sections are completed, as well as work to secure additional funding.
Learn more on the Resilient St. Vrain Areas of Work & Schedule webpage.
The cost for work to rebuild the St. Vrain Greenway and to restore and revitalize the St. Vrain Creek channel is estimated between $120 million and $140 million. Partial project funding for Resilient St. Vrain is coming from a variety of sources.
- $20 million in voter-approved Storm Drainage Bonds
- Additional funding will come from a combination of existing City funds (including the 3/4-cent Street Fund tax), plus monies from Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Highway Administration, State, County and Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funding.
The City continues to seek grants and other funding possibilities to fully fund this long-term and extensive project to protect the community.
Learn more on the Resilient St. Vrain Funding webpage.Work is progressing from downstream to upstream. Learn more on the Resilient St. Vrain Areas of Work & Schedule webpage.
It's St. Vrain Creek. Geographical names are assigned by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (part of the U.S. Geological Survey), which has designated the body of water that runs through Longmont as St. Vrain Creek. Learn more about how the geographic names program works here, or view the USGS feature detail report for St. Vrain Creek here. The creek begins at the confluence of the North and South St. Vrain Creeks in Lyons and flows east to join the South Platte River northwest of Platteville. Along the way, Left Hand Creek and Boulder Creek flow into the St. Vrain Creek as well.
- Learn about some of the ways that consideration for wildlife, trees and the environment play major roles in Resilient St. Vrain on the Environmentally Responsible Planning webpage.
Resilient St. Vrain is the City of Longmont’s extensive, multi-year undertaking to fully restore the St. Vrain Greenway trails and improve the St. Vrain Creek channel to protect people and property from future flooding. Without these improvements, vulnerable portions of our community remain at risk for flood damage.
Learn more on the Resilient St. Vrain webpage.
Construction is well underway on the Resilient St. Vrain project. Visit the Areas of Work & Schedule webpage for details.
- Hundreds of thousands of native species are being planted as part of work on Resilient St. Vrain. These include trees, grasses, forbs, shrubs, and other plant varieties. View this list of plant species to get an idea of some of the varieties being incorporated into the project. (Note: List is subject to change as additional plants are included.)
- Design plans for Resilient St. Vrain use 100-year flood flows and the 100-year floodplain as benchmarks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state and local agencies use the 100-year floodplain in regulatory processes related to building permits and environmental regulations, as well as for setting flood insurance requirements and costs.
Learn more on Resilient St. Vrain's Conveying 100-Year Flood Flows webpage. - A major flood event in September 2013 severely impacted Longmont, especially along the St. Vrain Creek. This flooding affected many properties within and outside of the floodplain. A flood event of this magnitude had not been experienced in Longmont since 1894, and it served as a reminder that the risk of major flood events is real and ever-present. From the disaster comes the opportunity to protect the community while restoring the St. Vrain Creek channel and improving its resilience to future flooding.
Learn more on the Resilient St. Vrain webpage.