The pace of excavation and removal of up to 500,000 cubic yards of soil from Woodridge Village has slowed slightly in recent months. That may be due to rising interest rates, which have slowed housing starts. Contractors use excavated dirt to elevate homesites in new developments. But the Census Bureau says housing starts in June […]
The “Tree Muggers” at the new Royal Pines subdivision in Montgomery County at the north end of West Lake Houston Parkway continue their relentless and remorseless destruction of trees. How ironic considering that the name implies the developer will market homes to Tree Huggers! Perhaps they: Feel the name will blind customers to the reality. […]
Contractors have begun clearing more than 1,100 acres owned by CH-B Kingland, LLC, north of the newly opened Grand Parkway. Construction plans obtained from Harris County Flood Control District via a FOIA request indicate the developer will build single-family residences. But the documents also indicate that engineers are using pre- not post-Harvey floodplain maps and […]
The City of Houston’s new $2 billion Northeast Water Purification Plant between Lake Houston and Beltway 8 East is now more than 50% complete. The last monthly progress report posted on GreaterHoustonWater.com was from more than a year ago. At the time, it showed construction 55% complete. Since then, the City has continued to post […]
The hand of sand miners weighs heavily on the San Jacinto watershed. Not all miners. But many. While exploring the river basin by helicopter last week, the contrast between two scenes struck me: 1) The natural blanket of green in Lake Houston Wilderness Park. 2) Sand mines that lined the banks of the East and […]
The Colony Ridge development in Liberty County, aka the world’s largest trailer park, has more than doubled in size in the last 3 years. Measurements in Google Earth show that Colony Ridge, which started clearing land in 2012, has expanded from approximately 8,000 acres in 2019 to almost 20,000 acres today. To put that in […]
Two new subdivisions are now routing their drainage through or toward San Jacinto West Fork sand mines. The one already going through a mine is Artavia on the north/east side of the Westfork between FM 1314 and river. The other is near Woodson’s Reserve on the south/west side of the river just inside the Grand […]
A popular misperception says Halls Bayou has received no flood-mitigation funding. Yet it has received $175 million since 2000. $65 million of that happened since Harvey. Channel widening, stormwater-detention basins and neighborhood drainage improvements have reduced flood risk somewhat, but several factors – including the need for more funding – make mitigation difficult. HCFCD has […]
Earlier this week, I photographed the collapse of one of the two last townhome complexes in Forest Cove on Marina Drive. Today, I flew over the demolition site and photographed contractors removing the last of the debris and cleaning up the site. The images also show the extent of buyouts in the area as well […]
When Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) and the Army Corps began Project Hunting (the Hunting Bayou Federal Flood Risk Management Project) in 2014, they estimated it would cost $100 million and take until late this year. A flyover of the construction along Hunting Bayou looks like it is nearing completion…right on schedule. It will […]