HCFCD Moving Dirt for Woodridge Village Detention Basin!
6/3/26 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) contractor Brice Construction started moving dirt this week on the Woodridge Village Detention Basin, which is part of a larger project to widen, deepen, and line Taylor Gully.
Harris County Commissioners approved Brice’s $29.4 million contract in their March 31, 2026 meeting.
History of Project
Up to 600 homes in Kingwood’s Elm Grove, Mills Branch, North Kingwood Forest and Woodstream Village subdivisions flooded twice in 2019 during storms in May and September. They flooded from runoff from Woodridge, which had been clearcut for development and sloped toward Taylor Gully.
The flooding resulted in a large, class-action lawsuit against Perry Homes and its subsidiaries. Perry was trying to build a new subdivision just north of the Montgomery County line on approximately 270 acres. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the stormwater detention basins built before heavy rains came.
Subsequently, Harris County and the City of Houston bought the property to a) keep it from being developed and b) use it for flood mitigation. Montgomery County detention requirements at the time were 40% lower than Harris County’s.
In January 2022, HCFCD started an E&R project (Excavation & Removal) on the southern portion of the property. Purpose: to get a “head start” on construction by letting contractors excavate dirt and sell it on the open market at market rates. They simply confine their efforts within the rough outlines of where HCFCD knows they will eventually build a detention basin.
Sprint Sand & Clay removed approximately 100 acre feet (160,000 cubic yards) before the end of 2023. That’s when HCFCD applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Texas General Land Office to finish the project. However, the basin was never fully excavated. Nor was it finished and connected to other drainage on the site.
Construction had to stop during the grant-application process. But now it has finally started again.
Contractors spent several days starting 5/19/26 cleaning up the site. Yesterday, drone footage showed they were finally moving dirt again after a 2.5 year pause. They had also knocked down a small grove of trees near what will become the eastern end of the detention basin. See the before/after photos below.
Photos Taken May 8, 2026, Before Re-start of Construction
Photos Taken June 2, 2026, After Re-start of Construction
Construction Schematic and Plans
Compartment 1 is designed as wet-bottom and expected to provide approximately 412 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity—that is roughly the equivalent of 412 football fields covered in one foot of water. And that’s more than four times the amount excavated by Sprint. See construction plans below.
Brice’s construction contract is for approximately $29.4 million.
Construction of Compartment 2 will be part of phase 2 and is anticipated to provide an additional 715 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity. Completion of Compartment 2 is dependent on future funding.
Phase I Project Funding
The grant application for this project was approved to receive up to $41.9 million through the Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program, provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by the Texas General Land Office.
The project is receiving $8.35 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and federal Community Project Funding. Congressman Dan Crenshaw secured that.
The project is receiving $10 million in funding from the Texas Water Development Board in partnership with the City of Houston.
Construction of Compartment 2 will be part of phase 2 and is anticipated to provide an additional 715 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity. Completion of Compartment 2 is dependent on future funding.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/3/26
3200 Days since Hurricane Harvey
