GLO Approves $42 Million for Taylor Gully-Woodridge Project in Kingwood
10/6/25 – Today, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) approved approximately $42 million to construct Taylor Gully Channel Conveyance Improvements and a Woodridge Stormwater Detention Basin in Kingwood.
Other Projects Approved on 10/6/25
GLO also approved six other HCFCD projects today. See below.
All seven projects are part of a larger group of 34 HCFCD projects in various stages of funding approval by the GLO for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The seven approved today were all Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) projects. Another category of HUD CDBG projects is Disaster Relief (abbreviated DR).
The primary, practical difference between the two categories has to do with their deadlines. DR projects face February 28, 2027 deadlines. And MIT projects have a little longer – until March 31, 2028.
That’s even more good news for the people who live near Woodridge and Taylor Gully. Some doubt whether HCFCD can complete the DR projects before their deadlines.
Welcome News for Residents Near Taylor Gully
Today’s approval will come as welcome news for those who live in Kingwood’s Elm Grove, Mills Branch, Woodstream and Sherwood Trail Villages.
Due to clearcutting and grading of the Woodridge property starting in 2017, up to 600 homes flooded twice in 2019 downstream, mostly along Taylor Gully.
Subsequently, Perry Homes built several detention basins on the Woodridge property before selling it to HCFCD and the City of Houston. Perry’s basins met pre-Atlas 14 standards. The new basin will bring detention up to and possibly beyond Atlas-14 requirements. Atlas-14 is the new set of rainfall probability statistics adopted after Hurricane Harvey.
The Woodridge portion of the project includes 421.6 acre feet of additional stormwater detention capacity (Compartment 1 in diagram above).
Other planned improvements along Taylor Gully include:
- 13,118 feet of channel conveyance improvements
- Placing a concrete channel along the base of it
- Replacing the concrete culverts at Rustling Elms with an open span bridge
Together, the channel and stormwater-retention improvements should reduce the water-surface elevation in a 100-year flood by up to five feet.
In the future, HCFCD will still have enough land to build an additional detention basin (Compartment 2) should it become necessary.
As of today, HCFCD expects to bid the project sometime in the first quarter of 2026.
For More Information
See this PowerPoint on the HCFCD website for more information about the Taylor Gully/Woodridge project.
For more information about the other projects, see this PDF from the GLO. GLO has not yet updated this PDF with today’s approvals. However, it does contain specific information about the projects, their size, scope, cost and approval stages that some may find useful.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/6/2025
2960 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.
