Mercer basin

Mercer and TC Jester Basins Far Behind Schedule

A quick check of the Mercer and TC Jester stormwater detention basin projects on Cypress Creek showed that, under current management:

  • One was supposed to finish last month, but is far from complete.
  • The other has had funding lined up for years, but won’t even go out for bid until the fourth quarter of this year.

They reminded me of Larry the Cable Guy. He’s the stand-up comic, whose famous hook line is “Git-R-Done©.”

But sorry, Larry. This is no laughing matter. Let’s look at the two projects upstream from Lake Houston.

One of those holes in the ground will take twice as long to design and build as the Empire State Building. But that’s not all. Read on.

Mercer Basins near Hardy Tollroad and FM1960

Back in mid-2024, HCFCD told us that they hoped to complete the Mercer Stormwater Detention basin project by Fall of 2024. But when I checked in December, I found HCFCD was far from complete. And it’s still not done.

When you add up the times specified in the original contract plus change orders, HCFCD should have completed it weeks ago.

But as of today, it appeared as if contractors have made practically no progress in the last four months. They are still far from complete. Compare the pictures below with those I took in December.

Mercer Detention Basins/South Pond as of 4/13/25
Mercer Detention Basin/North Pond as of 4/13/25
Looking S from over Cypress Creek at both basins. Intersection of Hardy Toll Road and FM1960 at top right.
There’s obviously a lot of dirt work to do before they start landscaping.

Mercer Basins Should Have Been Done Two Weeks Ago

Here’s the timeline on this project.

  • 8/4/23 – Contract was advertised to potential bidders
  • 10/10/23 – Contract was awarded and called for completion in 348 working days.
  • 12/23 – HCFCD issued Notice To Proceed to contractor (I don’t have an exact day, but let’s assume 12/31/23 to be generous).
  • 9/19/24 – Change order added 37 days and $108k
  • 12/10/24 – Change #2 added another 63 days and $105k
  • 1/21/25 – Change #3 added eight more days and $16k.

Thus, given a Notice to Proceed in December 2023, the contractor should have finished the job in 456 days (348 + 37 + 63 + 8).

But 456 days expired 13 days ago.

Today is 469 days since Notice to Proceed

Commissioner Rodney Ellis won’t like this. These basins are in his Precinct 1. Now let’s look five miles farther upstream.

TC Jester East Basin Got Final Funding in February, but Won’t Be Bid Till Fourth Quarter

In September, 2023, HCFCD held a press conference celebrating the funding of the TC Jester Stormwater Detention Basins.

Later, the County decided to seek more money from the Texas General Land Office (GLO), which administers HUD funding in Texas.

GLO approved Harris County’s final application by February. But that project isn’t even scheduled to go out for bids until the fourth quarter of 2025!

HCFCD Bid Outlook

And that’s despite the fact that Commissioners Court approved an agreement with an engineering company in 2021 to provide design/build/construction-phase services. Come on folks. This is a hole in the ground!

The TC Jester East Stormwater Detention Basin Complex will go in the big forested area in the center of the frame. Photo taken 4/13/25.

This project started five years ago! So why wait until to the fourth quarter to bid it? Why wasn’t it ready to bid the minute GLO gave final approval? Can it even be completed before the deadline in May 2026?

TC Jester Timeline

Here’s its timeline:

  • 9/14/21 – Preliminary engineering review (PER) completed and accepted by the county.
  • 11/30/21 – Approval of agreement with engineering company to provide design/bid/construction-phase services
  • 6/14/22 – Approval to submit the FEMA grant application (for Rep. Crenshaw’s earmark)
  • 1/10/23 – Approval to accept FEMA grant of $9.95 million through TDEM.  This is the earmark that Congressman Crenshaw secured.
  • 9/19/23 – Approval to submit application to TWDB to receive the $12 million that Rep. Sam Harless secured
  • 2/27/24 – Harris County Commissioners Court approved an escrow agreement, a requirement to receive TWDB funds
  • 4/23/24 – Authorization to negotiate for materials testing. However, the record doesn’t show that the agreement has come back to Court yet.  (Perhaps because they aren’t ready to go to construction.)
  • 6/4/24 – Commissioners Court accepted $12 million from TWDB (the Harless funds)
  • 3/27/25 – Commissioners Court accepted the CDBG-DR grant from the GLO for the construction of the East Basin.

One would like to think that, if they’ve been working on this since 2021, the design would be ready to bid. HUD set a deadline of May, 2026, to complete this project.

That gives HCFCD only a little more than a year…unless HUD grants an extension…to dig a hole in the ground that HCFCD began planning five years ago.

By comparison, the Empire State Building was designed AND constructed in less than three years!

And if it takes six years to finish the TC Jester Basin, that will equal the amount of time it took to build the first transcontinental railroad. But, of course, the civil war slowed the railroad down a bit.

What’s wrong with this picture? I’m with you, Cable Guy. Git-r-done!

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/13/25

2784 Days since Hurricane Harvey

I have offered to publish HCFCD‘s explanation as to why these projects are taking so long if it chooses to submit one.

“Git-R-Done” is a registered trademark of Git-R-Done Productions, Inc., the company of comedian Larry the Cable Guy (Daniel Lawrence Whitney).