Fountain Creek flood-plain relief seen with south-downtown homeless-center plan

Fountain Creek flood-plain relief seen with south-downtown homeless-center plan

Fountain Creek went over its banks in some places during flooding in August 2013, as can be seen in this photo looking west from the 26th Street bridge.
Westside Pioneer file photo

       Four hundred properties along Fountain Creek, from Manitou Springs to about Circle Drive, could be removed from the flood plain - eliminating their need for flood insurance - according to a tentative agreement between the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
       The benefit would result from a city strategy to help Springs Rescue Mission create a day center for homeless people. The planned location, using land the Rescue Mission already owns, is off West Las Vegas Street adjacent to Fountain Creek in the south downtown area.
       Before the city's involvement, even though FEMA's revised mapping was in the works, Springs Rescue Mission had discovered that it would take “several years for the maps to be officially adopted, making construction more difficult and expensive,” a city press release states.
       “City staff convened with the Springs Rescue Mission and Keith Curtis, FEMA regional floodplain manager, and identified a strategy for revising the 'official' floodplain maps to reduce the process timeline down to 6 to 9 months through a LOMR [Letter of Map Revision],” the release continues. “This LOMR enables Springs Rescue Mission to move forward with additional land acquisition and planning to build a homeless day center.”
       The Westside Pioneer asked for a map showing the 400 Fountain Creek properties potentially benefitting from the LOMR, with the specific hope of learning how many would be on the Westside. However, that information will be kept confidential until a final FEMA decision is announced, Curtis said in a follow-up phone interview. He did assess the chances for eventual approval as “probable.”

Westside Pioneer/press release
(Posted 1/7/15; Community: Ongoing Issues)

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