Colorado Disaster Recovery Resilience Planning Program Overview
The Takeaways
Partner, collaborate, and cast a wide net for stakeholder input and technical advice.
Define your approach to integrate hazards in the comprehensive plan.
Holistic planning leads to multi-objective solutions.
“Resiliency is the ability of communities to rebound, positively adapt to, or thrive amidst changing conditions or challenges, including human-caused and natural disasters, and to maintain quality of life, healthy growth, durable systems, economic vitality, and conservation of resources for present and future generations. ”
The Case Study
In the wake of the 2012-2013 wildfires and floods, Colorado recognized the opportunity for communities to avoid simply replacing what was lost, and instead look for opportunities to build back stronger and more resilient. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) established the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Resilience Planning Program to complete the expenditure of nearly $16,000,000 in federal disaster recovery funds. Ninety community projects (some still in progress) will be completed program-wide by communities, watershed coalitions, and counties impacted by the declared disasters.
Resilience planning projects were completed across five broad project categories, including developing community planning resources and specialized planning projects, that helped inform the redesign and reconstruction by the Watershed Resilience Pilot Program of a substantial amount of creeks and rivers affected by the 2013 floods.
The Resilience Planning program prioritized these five objectives/goals to respond to community needs and to maximize the impact of CDBG-DR funds. First, DOLA decided to prioritize the development of planning resources that could be used by other communities. Comprehensive plans were funded to help hazard-prone communities lay the groundwork for a more resilient recovery and future development. The program also prioritized planning for a more resilient restoration of rivers and creeks, and for building capacity to support an equitable recovery. Finally, DOLA funded many specialized planning projects to meet the more nuanced planning needs of each community.
Want more information?
Visit DOLA’s CDBG website.