Boulder County continues removing structures posing a significant risk

A home at 1002 Apple Valley Road that was severely damaged in September's floods was torn down by Boulder County contractors Tuesday.

The home alongside the South St. Vrain Creek outside of Lyons was considered a "high hazard," and of imminent threat of collapse, posing a significant risk should more flooding occur this year, county officials said.

The home was owned by Vicki Rivers, who watched as it was demolished by ECOS Environmental and Disaster Restoration Inc., a Boulder company.

It was one of five high-hazard homes being demolished under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's High Hazard Home Removal Program, according to Boulder County spokeswoman Gabi Boerkircher.

The home on Apple Valley Road was the third of those five to be demolished. The county's contractors earlier had removed high-hazard homes at 18522 N. Saint Vrain Drive and 16610 N. Saint Vrain Road, Boerkircher said.

The two remaining homes on that list are one at 18972 N. Saint Vrain Drive and one at 15623 N 83rd Street.

Boerkircher said that under the FEMA program, the federal agency covers 75 percent of the costs of demolishing and removing such high-hazard homes, with the state picking up 12.5 percent, and Boulder County, the remaining 12.5 percent.

The five homes whose demolition and removal costs are being covered under the FEMA program were among a number of "damaged and destroyed structures which are not only posing a substantial danger to the public but are also presenting a high hazard of immediate collapse from spring runoff or monsoon rains due to the structures' location in or adjacent to stream beds that are identified as having a substantial potential for further erosion," county Land Use Department director Dale Case said in a May 19 memo to the Board of County Commissioners.

The county has determined through its inspections that the homes "must be removed, as there is o other viable option for making these structures safe," Case wrote. "If not removed immediately, each of the structures will collapse, posing an unacceptable risk to the health, safety and welfare of the public.

"A collapsed structure poses an immediate threat to those in and around the structure as well as people, public and private infrastructure and other structures both up and down stream," Case said.

See the original post:
Boulder County continues removing structures posing a significant risk