Royal Pines construction

Royal Pines Construction Begins

Royal Pines, a new, 150-acre development in Porter at the north end of West Lake Houston Parkway (WLHP) is mobilizing for construction. The developer began clearing and grading the site in April 2022. By September 2022, they finished. And by October 2022, they were flooding neighbors.

For the past 18 months, they’ve been working on building two detention basins to help solve the flooding problems as they finalized their drainage and construction plans. They recently received Montgomery County permits and are now mobilizing for construction.

In response to a FOIA Request, Montgomery County supplied the drainage impact analysis and construction plans today. But they are far too large to post here. They include 314 pages of technical drawings. And they total almost 400 megabytes. So I will provide a brief summary now and provide more detail after I dig deeper.

Two Phases, Three Sections in First

According to the drainage impact analysis, construction will take place in two phases.

The developer, Starlight Homes Texas, LLC, owns land in the floodplain and floodway of White Oak Creek. Approximately 40 acres – almost a third of the site – will be used for recreation and green space, but not homes.

The first phase of construction will have three sections clustered near the current northern terminus of WLHP. WHLP will later be extended farther north. Plans for Phase II have not yet been completed or approved.

Purple Area will be developed in Phase I and have three sections. Red area will be Phase II.

Altogether, the development will have 448 homes. About two thirds will be on 40′ wide x 125′ long, 1/8th acre lots. The rest will be 10 feet longer.

Drainage Impact Analysis Claims No Adverse Impacts

The drainage impact analysis was based on 2018 Lidar data and NOAA’s Atlas-14 rainfall probability statistics. Both are current.

Part of the site used to drain toward WLHP. But the drainage was altered during grading. Now, all but 2.5 acres flows to the two detention basins and White Oak Creek.

Western stormwater detention basin. Property in background flooded several times before basin was built.
Eastern stormwater detention basin does not quite follow schematic layout. It sits where White Oak Creek cut across property during a 5-year rain.

The drainage impact analysis provides a summary for how the detention basins will perform in 25- and 100-year storms. In either event and in either direction (White Oak or WLHP), the claimed post-development runoff is less than the pre-development. See table below.

From Page 15 of Drainage Impact Study by DE Corp., 10/9/23.

The drainage impact analysis makes a great deal about how the total discharge beats requirements by such a large margin. However, keep in mind that the analysis does not yet include runoff from Phase II.

The engineer, Amy Dziuk, makes a point that the surplus capacity will be used later for Phase II. She claims that Phase I will “not cause adverse impacts to the receiving waterways or surrounding areas.”

Photos of Equipment and Materials Being Staged

I took these photos on 4/15/24. Concrete and HDPE pipe as well as heavy equipment are scattered throughout Phase I of the site. See below.

Looking south toward Country Colony at equipment and materials being pre-positioned.
Green pipe is usually used for sewage or drain lines. Blue carries water.
Section 3, Phase I west of Country Colony

I also saw men cleaning the entrance to the site and repairing silt fence.

Looking S at north end of WLHP from entrance to Royal Pines

Perhaps the attention to housekeeping in the photo above will be a good omen. Let’s hope they keep it up.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/16/2024

2422 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.