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Friday, June 20, 2008
Of Floods and Levees — 2
Others are taking notice.
With the increasing number of levees that are failing along the Mississippi, it is become more and more apparent that someone has grossly underestimated the potential for disaster. Even our own Pueblo Chieftain has noticed.
What’s caught our notice is that some levees built along the Mississippi River and its tributaries have been breached, letting floodwaters pour into areas that otherwise might have been considered safe. And we’ve heard an echo of this right here in Pueblo.
Considering what we’ve witnessed of late vis-a-vis the disasters in Peppersauce Bottoms, we look at the Fountain and have to wonder just how safe our system is.
This is especially true when we look at the I-25 overpass at 13th Street, as the Fountain flows by a few yards to the east. There is NO levee there. Just as there was no levee on the road running beside a river as it flowed past Cedar Rapids. I captured a photo from the Fox News article. I wish I could provide it here, but I’m concerned about copyright violations. Suffice it to say that someone piled up heaps of dirt and some sandbags at a low point in the highway, in an act of desperation, to keep the river within it’s banks. The photograph shows the river having breached the makeshift levee and flowing across the road.
It’s pathetic. It’s the quintessential example of the Six Ps; Army Staff puke axiom about Piss Poor Planning.
This brings me to my forthcoming query to the Pueblo County Emergency Management Department. As a member of the Pueblo Area Council Of Governments (PACOG) Environmental Policy Advisory Committee (EPAC), at their next regular meeting I will call for the County emergency management people to explain the following:
[1] What are the levees along the Arkansas and Fountain rated to withstand?
[2] What data and/or parameters were used in the formulation of the 100-year and 500-year flood estimates?
[3] How do those parameters match up against the event in Iowa and Illinois of the last few weeks?
[4] What were the levees that failed in Iowa and Illinois rated to withstand?
[5] What are the written plans to deal with flooding in the Arkansas and Fountain?
I think we need to see how our County government is prepared to deal with this sort of crisis. After all….we’re getting into the range of another 100-year event. The flood of 1921’s 100-year anniversary is not that far off.
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Saturday, June 14, 2008
Of Floods and Levees
How safe are our levees?
Over the last few years, we’ve heard some reports of serious problems with our system of levees. We have the disaster in New Orleans where the levees—which had not been properly upgraded—were demolished by Hurricane Katrina. Now we see Cedar Rapids and Des Moines experiencing similar disasters because the levees were not up to the task.
In the former, it was a major storm lashing the works. In this iteration, it’s just an awful lot of water that is higher than the Corps of Engineers seem to have anticipated. And this is supposedly the proverbial 500-year flood.
It makes me wonder whether or not our levees, along the Fountain are up to this sort of flood. Or are they, as appears in Iowa, only built for the 100-year sort of flood.
There’s a picture up on Fox News showing where one of the two ‘breaks’ in levees occurred in Des Moines. And guess what….there WAS no levee there. Except for the few piles of pathetic dirt someone tried to shove on the edge of the road. Personally, I’m seeing what local Emergency Management might attempt at the I25 overpass at 13th Street, vis-a-vis the Fountain. Some dirt piled up to face a 100-year flood and it not holding up to the challenge of the moment. Let alone a 500-year deluge. And it makes me wonder….what would happen to the Northside neighborhoods and businesses. Or downtown business for that matter.
I’d like to see the Pueblo County Emergency Management Department plans to deal with such an emergency.
Hopefully, they’re a bit more comprehensive than sending the police through the neighborhood telling people to get out over a bullhorn pointed out the window of their cruiser…..
UPDATE Another One Busted [141616 Jun 08]: Fox News reports another levee, this one on the Mississippi River as it passes Illinois, has busted.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Part 1: So What Was Going with that Historic District and Council?
I apologize for any errors in the following narration. I have been patiently waiting for the minutes of the January 14, 2008, Pueblo City Council meeting to be posted on the City’s web site, but they are still not there.
Monday, January 14, 2008, Pueblo City Council was presented with a proposed historic district to be called the North Side Historic District. It has approximately 35 properties. The district boundaries had already been redrawn to accommodate people who protested being included.
After “testimony” was heard, Council then discussed the issue and decided that before the District could be finalized, every property owner had to agree to be included with an affidavit. This is not in Pueblo’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. This goes way beyond the noticing that the City was required to do and did do. This is called “changing the rules so your opponent can’t score.”
Personally, I think the whole thing was quite likely manipulated by parties with other agendas. I won’t say it was exactly pre-planned or orchestrated, but under the circumstances, it would be very easy to manipulate.
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Saturday, December 01, 2007
Help At Home, Anyone?
Senior Resource Development Agency’s assistance program.
Over 60 years of age?
If you need some help in keeping up with keeping up the household, SRDA seems to have a program in place to assist.
They’ve got people willing to do inside—laundry, mopping, vacuuming—AND outside—mowing, raking, grocery shopping—work for you at reasonable rates.
If you live outside of OHNO’s area, call SRDA direct at 545-8900.
If you live in OHNO’s area, contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)....she seems to be drumming up business along those lines in the area.
OHNO Bi-Monthly General Meeting — December 2007
Food, Fun, Friends and an Election!
Tuesday evening will be the bi-monthly general meeting of the Old Historic Northside Organization. It is open to members and their invited guests.
We’ll not be at our usual meeting place, but, in our now-established tradition, we’ll have a progressive dinner party. Appetizers, entrées and desserts will be offered at three different locations within walking distance of each other. Events begin at 6:30 pm.
To participate, coordinate your contribution with .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Be sure to bring your ballot with you for the election of who will be guiding OHNO next year and the proposed change to the bylaws regarding procedures for use of membership lists.
If you don’t have a ballot via the newsletter, here it is, albeit it is the entire full-color 11x17 document prepared for printing on your very own computer….front and back. Just like we distributed.
Looking forward to this. It’s always been a lot of fun.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
OHNO Bylaws
The Lost Copy
Seems that when we changed over from one blog hosting service provider to another, an old post got lost. The one with the OHNO bylaws.
Therefore, HERE they are.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
OHNO BoD Meeting Minutes — October 2007
What transpired….
Click on ‘More….” (below) for the gory details.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting — 071010
A reminder….
This Wednesday afternoon, 3:30 pm, 10 October 2007, the Pueblo Planning and Zoning Commission will be holding a public hearing on a number of different matters.
One of those matters will be whether or not to recommend, with approval or disapproval, a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for an expansion of Parkview Medical Center.
The hearing will be held in the City Council Chambers.
All are invited to attend and participate…..
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Parkview PUD Diagrams — Update 071004
A significant change in the PUD plan.
If you downloaded the Parkview PUD plans posted yesterday….they’ve been ‘revised’.
The new plan diagrams, as unveiled to the public at last nights public forum, are no longer geared to the number of floors the hospital can have at various locations on its campus. Instead, they are geared to something called the Floor-Area-Ratio (FAR).
What does it mean?
Well, that was a question a lot of people were asking of Mr. Pacheco, after the new plan was revealed.
Here’s how I understood it.
The height of the structure is dependent upon its (1) FAR rating, e.g., 1:1, 3.5:1, 4:1, 5:1, etc., etc., N:1 and (2) the structure’s ‘footprint’, i.e., the amount of square footage it takes up…at a given level.
By means of example, consider this….
There is a square plot of land that is 500 feet on a side. About the size of the Rosemount Museum property.
If a developer were to have a 1:1 FAR he could build a 1-story building that measured 500 feet on a side, covering the whole lot. If he had a 5:1 FAR he could build a 5-story building that measured 500 feet on a side.
On the other hand, if he decided he wanted some sidewalks and/or lawn, he’d be reducing the footprint of the building on that lot accordingly. So, if he gave half of the land on the lot up to sidewalks and greenery, if his FAR were 1:1 he could build a 2-story building that measured 250 feet on a side. For a 5:1 FAR he could build a 10-story building.
If the developer decided to use only one quarter of the lot for the building he could have a 4-story building that was 125 feet on a side at a 1:1 FAR. With a 5:1 FAR he could build a 20-story building of those dimensions.
That is the simple explanation. It gets more complex, i.e., approaching rocket-science, when you start talking about step-backs in the building; building the next story up with less square footage than the previous story.
An important point to remember is this….There is no height restriction with this approach. Hence, there was no side-view of elevations presented with the new diagrams revealed last night, as there had been with the previous set of diagrams.
And, as Mr. Pacheco answered to a question, there are no rules or city ordinances that are ‘sacred’ in the PUD concept. It is, literally, whatever the City Council will allow.
For more information on the FAR, check out THIS LINK.
UPDATE Additionally [041141 Oct 07]: Whereas I’m not perfectly certain of this, but I do believe that it is ‘cheaper’, i.e., less expensive, to build UP than OUT. Something to do with infrastructure in the building, I think. Therefore, it would be in a developer’s interest to build a higher structure with a reduced footprint. And I do believe that was a point that was made during the course of last night’s meeting.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Parkview PUD Diagrams
The Plan, as it exists of last week.
The downloadable files that follow are the overhead and elevation views of the proposed Parkview Planned Unit Development (PUD), as I understand them to be as of last week.
These are PDF documents, so you’ll need Adobe Reader to see them.
You can get the application for FREE at THIS PLACE.
I apologize for the poor resolution, as it is difficult to read the fine print, but due to the circumstances, i.e., greater resolution makes the files VERY large, this is all that can be done.
For the Overhead View, all H1 areas can be 8-stories high, H2 can be 7-stories, H3 can be 6-stories.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Pueblo’s PUD Ordinance
A look at the law.
At THIS link, please find a PDF document of the Pueblo City Ordinances relating to Planned Unit Developments.
Please review it and be prepared to discuss it at a not-too-distant future date.
UPDATE Additional Information [030943 Oct 07]: All Pueblo Code Ordinances can be downloaded HERE, in PDF, from the site operated by the City of Pueblo. For information relating to zoning, select the items labeled TITLE 17. There are two such files. The first one has the information about zones and setbacks that were discussed last night, at the OHNO Bi-Monthly General Meeting. The second file has the information about PUDs, which has been provided in the link above.
Parkview Medical Center’s PUD
Presenting the PUD!
Tomorrow night, 3 October 2007, Pueblo’s Planning & Development Department will be holding a public hearing on Parkview’s proposal for a Planned Unit Development (PUD) to modify their campus.
The meeting will be held in the cafeteria of the SRDA building at 230 North Union. It will start at 6 pm. Mr. Pacheco, the head of the department will be hosting the meeting.
We’ll be providing what information we know of the PUD at the OHNO bi-monthly meeting tonight. [Note: See earlier item on the blog for details of that meeting’s location and time.]
Additionally, on the following Wednesday afternoon, 3:30 pm, 10 October 2007, in the City Council Chambers, the Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing before approving the proposed PUD.
OHNO Bi-Monthly General Meeting — October 2007
Once More!!!
The bi-monthly general meeting of Old Historic Northside Organization is tonight.
We plan to meet at Temple Emanuel’s fellowship hall at 6:30 pm.
The topics will be Code Enforcement AND the proposed Parkview Planned Unit Development (PUD) project.
See you there….
Sunday, September 30, 2007
OHNO BoD Meeting Minutes — September 2007
What the heads talked about this month.
Click on “More….” to see what was discussed at Septembers Board of Directors meeting.
OHNO BoD Meeting Minutes — July 2007
Old news is better than no news.
Click on ‘More….” to see the minutes of the July meeting of the OHNO Board of Directors.