| OCR Text |
Show danger. Where the hazard is great, zoning regula- tions might be applied to exclude all construction. In certain cases, zoning regulations may prescribe methods of building construction and limitations on occupancy and use. Similarly an area could be zoned solely for agricultural use, with no building improvements allowed. Since the zoning principle is based on preserving the health, safety, and wel- fare of a community, its legality turns on the police powers o-f local government units, and it must be defined in terms which are reasonable for the par- ticular locality. The primary advantage of flood plain zoning is its low initial cost as compared to the cost of posi- tive flood protection measures. Its actual cost from an economic standpoint may be great in preventing beneficial or higher type use. Among such losses are those due to exclusion of more intensive uses which, even after allowing for occasional damage or destruction by floods, may still yield a greater re- turn than the most profitable use under zoning restrictions. It has the advantage of preventing slums in areas where the recognized flood hazard precludes more substantial building. Also it may be found of value to preserve areas for planned industrial or other higher types of use when such uses in combination with positive flood protection become economically warranted. In cases where the most suitable use under zoning restrictions is not attractive to private enterprise, public purchase may be necessary to supplement a zoning program. Benefits and costs of a zoning program, including administration and policing costs, can be estimated for comparison with similar figures for flood pro- tection. The choice between the two methods then turns on tlie relative economic advantages with due regard fox related intangible considerations. Zon- ing, unless combined with a program for evacuation by purchase, serves only to restrict future uses and by itself will be most effective in a relatively un- settled area. Under some conditions the combina- tion of zoning regulations with partial flood protec- tion may prove the most satisfactory solution of flood problems. Zoning regulations, if enforced, have special value in p reventing encroachments on stream chan- nels and floodways provided to pass floodwaters with only moderate damage. The selection of the flood control capacity of a reservoir is based in part on the maximum release the downstream channels can safely carry. Obstructions or developments placed do^vnstream could serve to decrease the safe 240 capacity, thereby impairing the reservoir opera- tion. Floodways riverward of a levee providing local flood protection also should remain unob- structed in order to safely carry the flood flows for which the levee heights were designed. In one report on the Missouri River,29 levees were recommended for construction along the river from Sioux City to Kansas City, if the States having a common boundary on the river would, as a condi- tion precedent to initiation of construction, estab- lish by interstate compact floodway boundary lines and floodway regulations. However, in author- izing construction of the project in the 1941 Flood Control Act,30 Congress did not adopt such a re- quirement. In many flood control investigations, where the cost of protection was relatively high in comparison to the value of the property protected, evacuation of the area and restriction of it to limited use have been studied. Generally, local interests have indi- cated that they do not favor such a project. For example, Idledale, Colo., on Bear Creek, had suf- fered considerable damage in past years. The in- vestigation disclosed that it was not practicable to provide flood protection to the community be- cause of the limited floodway available and high peak flows. Reservoir protection was not feasible. An evacuation project was studied, including pur- chase of the area in the flood plain and its future use as a park area. Local people were emphatic in refusing the project, choosing to remain in the flood plain rather than be moved on the adjoining high land where danger of flood and loss of life would have been eliminated. Federal agencies have frequently suggested to officials of various towns and cities in the basin that undeveloped areas in the flood plain be zoned to restrict improvement of property subject to flood damage. This suggestion is seldom adopted, be- cause local people feel it would restrict their taxable property and tax income. In addition, the sug- gestion or proposal of a flood control project, or even the hope of possible future flood protection, probably deters local people from seriously consider- ing zoning restrictions. Hence there has been little opportunity for use of the zoning principle to pre- clude flood damages. During the first year of the meetings of the Mis- souri Basin Inter-Agency Committee, an investiga- tion of State laws of the various States in the basin 'H. Doc. 821, 76th Cong., 3d sess. •Act of August 18, 1941, § 3, 55 Stat. 638, 639. |
