Mitigating Hazards Through Planning

Planning in Hazardous Areas: A Range of Approaches

The following general frameworks describe different approaches for local communities as they balance planning for hazards with other important land use goals.

• Prevent development in hazardous areas. An obvious solution for making communities safer is to avoid hazardous areas altogether, as discussed in the sidebar below. Communities can discourage or restrict development in vulnerable areas such as floodplains, landslide areas, the wildland-urban interface (WUI), or other known hazard areas. Avoiding hazardous areas can be accomplished through regulations (such as overlay zoning) or through incentives (such as cluster subdivisions). There are also non-regulatory approaches, such as land acquisition.
• Direct future growth to safer areas. Preventing development in hazardous locations is only part of the equation. Communities can also encourage growth in locations that are less vulnerable to natural hazards. Directing future growth requires that the community identify locations deemed suitable for development and redevelopment. This process often forms the core of future land use elements in comprehensive plans. Once safe areas have been identified, communities can back up those policy decisions by directing investment (such as capital improvements and schools) and removing barriers to developing in those areas.
• Protect existing development in hazardous areas. Avoiding hazard areas protects future development; however, protecting people, property, and facilities in already-developed areas is just as important. Strengthening existing development can be achieved through many land use and mitigation strategies, such as upgrading development standards to protect vulnerable areas (e.g., stronger floodplain regulations), requiring nonconforming properties to be brought into compliance with updated standards, updating building codes to promote safer development, and in some cases relocating existing structures to less-vulnerable areas.

Each of these approaches provides possible solutions for Colorado communities looking to plan for or protect development from hazard risk. Most likely, a community will embrace a set of complementary approaches based on local circumstances. There are not necessarily bright lines between the approaches. Indeed, there is some overlap, and many of the planning tools profiled in this guide may be used to support more than one objective. For example, a land acquisition strategy could be used to both restrict development in hazard-prone areas and also shift development to safer locations. The approaches should be evaluated for their potential effectiveness, and subsequent regulatory tools tailored to meet local needs.