General Information

The Boxelder Creek Watershed is a vast, relatively undeveloped part of northeastern Larimer County. The drainage basins in this watershed cover approximately 260 square miles and extend from extreme southeastern Wyoming into southeast Fort Collins with flooding continuing extending past Timnath toward the southeast. The Lower Boxelder Valley is irrigated and it contains some of the best agricultural land in the County.

The Lower Boxelder Basin, close to I-25, has developed into an agribusiness and agri-research corridor which includes a major brewery, the Colorado State University Horticultural Research Center, and the Colorado State University Agricultural Research, Development, and Educational Center.

The entire Town of Wellington and a sizeable portion of the City of Fort Collins are included in the Lower Boxelder Basin. The lower, southerly portion of the Basin is more urbanized and is impacted by many existing man-made structures such as streets and buildings.

Manager's Corner

The Board of Directors has completed an audit of Authority financial statements as of December 31, 2009. The financial statements are available and can be reviewed in the "documents and maps" section of this web site. The audit was conducted by Posti and Adams, a CPA firm located in Denver, Colorado.

Ayres' Engineers of Fort Collins, CO, under contract to the Authority, has completed an investigation of potential sites for a floodwater storage facility to be located on the east side of I-25. The study established an "Authority" hydrologic model, then used the model to evaluate the sites. Based on this information, the Board is considering further evaluation of a site immediately north of County Road 56.

The Board continues to work with Ayres' engineers on possible revisions to the Authority Service area Boundary. The objective of this work is to identify consistent policies for assessment of fees based on hydrologic contribution from various properties.

I may be reached anytime at 443-9505 or by e-mail at rburns@boxelderauthority.org if you have questions or comments about the Authority or its operation.

Rex A. Burns, Manager

Welcome

The Boxelder Stormwater Authority is a new and separate entity created in accordance with Colorado Revised Statute 29-1-203 by intergovernmental agreement (IGA), dated August 20, 2008, among Larimer County, the City of Fort Collins, and the Town of Wellington.

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS

The Board of Directors of the Boxelder Basin Regional Stormwater Authority has changed its August meeting date from August 19, 2010 to August 26, 2010. The meeting will be at 4:00 P.M., in the Leeper Center 3800 Wilson Avenue, Wellington, CO.

Authority Responsibility - The Authority is responsible for the implementation (including design, construction, operations and maintenance) of regional improvements of the adopted Boxelder Stormwater Master Plan. The improvements have a total estimated cost of $ 10.5 million and include:

Adding floodwater capacity to an existing water storage facility (Clark Reservoir)
Construction of a new stormwater detention facility (called Edson), and
Middle Basin Improvements to direct floodwater away from the westerly flowpath

The improvements will reduce the hazard of flooding to many existing houses, two schools, several government buildings and many commercial buildings located in the Lower Boxelder Community. Many commercial buildings near the intersection of State Highway 14 and Interstate Highway 25 are subject to flooding and will no longer be subject to flood damages as well. While reducing the potential for damage benefits the owners of the respective properties, the community will also benefit from the increased economic vitality of these areas. FEMA rules require owners of properties located in flood hazard areas to purchase flood insurance if they are financed by a Federally regulated institution. FEMA also requires local governments to enact land use restrictions in flood hazard areas so that additional improvements will not be put at risk. Owners who are freed from the burdens of flood insurance and land use regulation will be more inclined and enabled to put money into their properties. This will benefit the community by increasing property values.

Public safety is a concern in times of flooding, and emergency response providers are required to respond to private and public needs. Sanitary sewers may become hydraulically overloaded due to interception of floodwater causing backup of raw sewage into homes and businesses. The reduction in flood hazard brought about by the planned improvements will benefit the Lower Boxelder Community by reducing the demand on emergency response resources when a flood occurs.