9/19/25 – On 9/18/25, Harris County Commissioners reviewed a presentation about the status of 2018 Flood Bond Projects. They also.adopted six motions that will affect the future of Harris County Flood Control District and the 2018 Flood Bond. In fact, they will result in an “updated bond package.” (See Motions below.)
Highlights of Presentation
The presentation identified 75 active bond IDs out of the original 181 that are moving forward into construction. They include projects that rank in the top quartile of the 2022 Equity Prioritization Framework as well as those in lower quartiles that already had partner funding committed.
An additional 26 projects will be paused and reactivated if additional funding materializes.
15 Projects will be closed because they turned out not to be technically feasible or because partner funding never materialized.
54 projects have been marked “completed” meaning their full scope as outlined in the original flood blond has already been realized.
In all, 75 bond IDs that include 248 discrete projects will move forward. They include stormwater detention basins, channel improvements and bridge replacements that theoretically remove 183,000 people from the floodplain.
According to Eric Heppen, Precinct 3’s director of engineering, the engineering teams from each precinct have met weekly with HCFCD since June to arrive at recommendations that all four precincts and Flood Control could agree on. In that respect, yesterday’s meeting represents a dramatic improvement over earlier meetings that rapidly devolved into brawls.
This set of recommendations means the County is only $400 million short, not the $1.3 billion that Dr. Tina Petersen, executive director of HCFCD, previously alluded to.
Substance of Six Motions Adopted by Court
Commissioners adopted the following six motions.
Funding Allocation:
Motion to approve the allocation of 2018 Flood Bond funds for each Bond ID and all associated projects, as presented in the Updated Bond Package and as directed by Commissioners Court, funding current and future needs for all projects in Quartile 1 of the 2022 prioritization framework and projects with secured partnerships.
Dashboard:
Motion to direct Flood Control to maintain the public 2018 Flood Bond dashboard – which includes but is not limited to project schedules, prioritization scores, budget, location, and lifecycle stage for all projects – and to update the dashboard quarterly in advance of Commissioners Court updates, including directing the Flood Control District to continue to work with court offices and the community to improve the dashboard’s user friendliness, including but not limited to:
Providing Bond ID previews
Improved language accessibility
Incorporating the ability to filter projects by features such as:
Partnership projects
Quartile score
Project status, and
Project precinct;
Opportunities for the community to be engaged on testing the dashboard and relevant applications
Court Updates:
Motion to direct Flood Control to provide quarterly updates to Commissioners Court on the progress of all bond projects including spending and lifecycle stage.
Working Group:
Motion to direct Flood Control to convene the 2018 Flood Bond Working Group – composed of staff from the Court offices – at least quarterly in advance of Court updates:
The Working Group will be consulted on the following:
Project progress, schedules, and spending
New partnership opportunities that may arise
Unneeded/excess funds that may be freed up for reallocation
For projects completing a lifecycle stage where the estimated budget exceeds 15% of the allocated amount for that project or the proposed scope materially shifts from what was originally identified and agreed to, approval by Court will be required. The Working Group will work with Flood Control to define what constitutes a material shift and transmit the agreement to Court.
Prioritization Framework:
Move to direct the Flood Control District to use the 2022 Prioritization Framework scores to allocate any 2018 Flood Bond funds that become available to Bond IDs that are paused and other bond projects where the scope and funds identified in the Updated Bond Package need to be increased. Funds shall be considered available when the bond reserve contingency exceeds 15% of the total remaining funds left to be spent. Any deviation from the Framework shall require prior approval by a majority vote of Commissioners Court.
Prioritization Scoring:
Move to direct Flood Control District to add 2022 Prioritization Framework scores to every Bond ID and associated projects where feasible and with the exceptions of buyout projects and countywide projects as noted in the 2022 Prioritization Framework transmittal.
Additional Information about Project Rankings and Spending
Heppen also provided two spreadsheets shared with commissioners:
In future posts, I will discuss how these changes affect Bond IDs and projects in the Lake Houston Area and elsewhere that didn’t make the cut. So check back often.
Posted by Bob Rehak
2943 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/75-remaining-projects--e1758333314133.png?fit=1100%2C578&ssl=15781100adminadmin2025-09-19 21:11:092025-09-19 21:12:24Harris County Commissioners Adopt Six Motions Affecting Future of 2018 Flood Bond
9/18/25 – Just-in-Time Data! Harris County Commissioners have been begging for up-to-date information about the 2018 Flood Bond since February. Today, they will see a new Flood Bond Dashboard. It should enable them to make better, more timely decisions about flood-bond projects.
At times in the last few months, Commissioners requests became both blunt and brutal. But last night, HCFCD launched a new interactive dashboard on the 2018 Bond page of their website. The dashboard shows detailed information about the overall status of the bond and each project within it.
Drilling Down Through Data
The dashboard includes two main sections.
The first includes summary graphs. It also provides a path to information about every bond ID and project.
Selecting one or more Bond IDs in the first section pulls up a map of the project(s) in the second, bottom section.
Info boxes next to the map pop up and show additional information, including which stage of the project lifecycle the project is currently at. It’s a powerful and helpful tool that HCFCD intends to continue improving.
Take a Guided Tour
Below are some screen captures that illustrate the dashboard’s functionality.
Four main buttons across the top graphic let you drill down into information about the bond and projects within it.
Financial Summary
Clicking Financial Summary shows the total of secured funds plus where they came from.
Hovering over any one of the segments in the circle graphs translates percentages to absolute dollar amounts.
Project Summary
Clicking the Project Summary Button displays information about the total number of bond IDs and their project components.
Again, placing your cursor over a segment of a graph pulls up additional information about that segment.
Watershed Summary
The Watershed Summary table lets you compare spending to date and “funds remaining” within each watershed.
Project Overviews
The last button, Project Overviews, lets you drill down into any Bond ID and its associated projects to learn more information about them. Scroll up or down to select a bond ID or multiple IDs. Then check the one(s) that interest you.
Dragging left over the right hand part of the columns reveals more hidden columns.
In addition to the columns shown above, you can find information about the status of planning, engineering, and construction, as well as an ETA for construction.
Interactive Map
When you select a bond ID and then click the Map Query Button, the system highlights the location within the county.
Clicking on the location (represented by a dot) within the map then pulls up an info box that contains a narrative about the project. The box also includes lifecycle data and a close-up map of the project and its boundaries. See below. I checked Kingwood Diversion Ditch and then clicked on “Map Query.”
If you don’t know the Bond ID, start with the map and work in reverse. Clicking on one of the many dots on the map will still pull up the info box. From there, you can see the bond ID and then find the information in the table.
Other Related Information
The dashboard is still a work in progress. It launched last night. So give HCFCD a little time to work out any kinks you may find.
HCFCD plans to update the information quarterly and also issue a new Bond Update that incorporates dashboard information.
Check out the three summary reports at the top of the page:
Reportedly, commissioners’ staffs have used this information to eliminate some projects that had no or little benefit. They will recommend redeploying funding from those to remaining projects.
They also reportedly discovered that the budget shortfall was smaller than previously discussed and that they should be able to fund every project that already has partnership dollars attached.
9/16/2025 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) could soon be caught in a time squeeze.
Deadlines are fast approaching on hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Texas General Land Office (GLO). Yet HCFCD is pushing projected start dates for those projects further into the future. So, there may not be enough time to complete the jobs.
“As a rule of thumb, it typically takes two years to build a detention basin. But HCFCD has left itself with only approximately a year to build many with urgent deadlines.”
Construction Expert
And further deadline extensions likely will not be granted. When HUD granted HCFCD an extension on 10 of the 29 projects, HUD’s letter said, in essence, not to bother asking for another extension. A GLO spokesperson said, “The GLO doesn’t have the statutory authority to override HUD.”
Status of Grants and Deadlines
Yesterday, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) released the status of the 29 grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They currently total $862.6 million.
The 29 grants fall into two categories: Disaster Relief (DR) and Mitigation (MIT).
HCFCD has an immovable deadline of February 28, 2027 for all Disaster Relief grants. That’s just 17 months away. And 9 out of the 10 that have not yet started won’t even go out for bids until next year. And one of those will be bid in the third quarter of next year, likely leaving only a few months to complete the $9 million project.
Let’s discuss the DR projects first. See the first group below.
Of the 11 projects in the Disaster Relief group, ten have already been approved and amended into the County’s contract. But only one has started construction. All the others haven’t even been bid yet. And won’t be for months.
Seven of Ten Remaining DR Projects Show Slippage in Bid Schedules
HCFCD periodically publishes “bid outlooks.” They tell potential contractors when HCFCD intends to advertise projects for bidding.
Comparing the June and August project bidding schedules shows that…
Seven of the remaining 10 have slipped three to nine months … in two months.
See table below.
Dates compiled from HCFCD Bid Outlooks for June and August (published in September).
How do you get this far and not have projects ready to bid immediately after approval? An HCFCD spokesperson said, “It’s quite a layered process” with approvals from other authorities, too, i.e., for environmental studies.
Regardless, only 17 months remain before an already extended deadline.
According to a GLO spokesperson, when HUD granted the deadline extension, the letter granting the extension basically said, “Don’t ask for another.” The GLO spokesperson also confirmed that GLO did not have statutory authority to grant an extension against HUD’s ruling.
So is there time to complete the Disaster Relief projects?
Arbor Oaks Project Illustrates Difficulty of Deadline
Only 17 months remain to bid and build 10 DR projects. And it typically takes 3 to 6 months just to:
Advertise a project for bids
Secure and review the bids
Get commissioners court to approve the bids
Finalize the contract
Issue a “notice to proceed”
Mobilize crews
That leaves roughly a year to build the projects. But the ten listed above could have even less time because of slippage in the bidding schedules.
Only one CDBG-DR job has started construction already: the Arbor Oaks Stormwater Detention Basin in White Oak Bayou’s watershed.
Commissioners Court approved the job for bidding on 5/8/2025.
HCFCD awarded the contract on 6/26/2025.
As of yesterday afternoon, the contractor was still mulching trees – more than 4 months after the job was first advertised.
No dirt has been removed yet. The pictures below show how the project looked on 9/16/2025.
Former Arbor Oaks subdivision near White Oak BayouExtent of clearing on 9/16/2025. Concrete removal was supposed to start yesterday, but did not by 2PM.The only activity on the site was tree clearing/mulching.
The diagram below shows what contractors still must build.
Two dry-bottom and two wet-bottom basinswill provide 221 acre-feet of stormwater storage.That’s a lot of dirt to move!
If HCFCD misses that February 28, 2027 deadline, the county could be on the hook for up to $34.2 million in HUD funds. And because that project got the earliest start, it has the highest likelihood of beating the deadline. What about other projects that won’t even be bid until there’s less than a year to bid and build them?
Because the DR projects have the most immediate deadlines, everyone has been focusing on those first. But the second group of 18 MIT projects also have deadlines.
All MIT funding allocated to the State of Texas after Hurricane must be turned into HUD by January 1, 2033. But the GLO needs 18 months to complete paperwork and package documentation for thousands of projects for HUD’s audit. So, the deadline for sub-recipients, such as HCFCD is July 1, 2031.
But there’s another wrinkle that puts even more pressure on sub-recipients to start projects soon. HUD wants the State to spend half the funds by January 1, 2027 – two months BEFORE the DR deadline.
How Real are the Deadlines?
There seem to be two different views of deadlines.
HCFCD’s current management, like a former Mayor of Houston, appears to believe that deadlines can be indefinitely extended.
The GLO views them as a contractual obligation, which if violated, could result in the taxpayers of Texas footing the bill for unnecessary delays.
According to the GLO, HUD changed its way of doing business after previous disasters such as Hurricane Ike, when some funds sat unused for years. So, after Harvey, HUD adopted, in essence, a “use it or lose it” policy with strict deadlines. Not everyone has gotten that message yet.
The potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for flood mitigation could make voters very unhappy.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/18/2025
2941 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Bid-Slippage-Sept-2025.png?fit=2392%2C880&ssl=18802392adminadmin2025-09-17 14:09:152025-09-17 15:27:14With Grant Deadlines Approaching, Bid Deadlines Are Slipping
Harris County Commissioners Adopt Six Motions Affecting Future of 2018 Flood Bond
9/19/25 – On 9/18/25, Harris County Commissioners reviewed a presentation about the status of 2018 Flood Bond Projects. They also.adopted six motions that will affect the future of Harris County Flood Control District and the 2018 Flood Bond. In fact, they will result in an “updated bond package.” (See Motions below.)
Highlights of Presentation
The presentation identified 75 active bond IDs out of the original 181 that are moving forward into construction. They include projects that rank in the top quartile of the 2022 Equity Prioritization Framework as well as those in lower quartiles that already had partner funding committed.
According to Eric Heppen, Precinct 3’s director of engineering, the engineering teams from each precinct have met weekly with HCFCD since June to arrive at recommendations that all four precincts and Flood Control could agree on. In that respect, yesterday’s meeting represents a dramatic improvement over earlier meetings that rapidly devolved into brawls.
This set of recommendations means the County is only $400 million short, not the $1.3 billion that Dr. Tina Petersen, executive director of HCFCD, previously alluded to.
Substance of Six Motions Adopted by Court
Commissioners adopted the following six motions.
Funding Allocation:
Motion to approve the allocation of 2018 Flood Bond funds for each Bond ID and all associated projects, as presented in the Updated Bond Package and as directed by Commissioners Court, funding current and future needs for all projects in Quartile 1 of the 2022 prioritization framework and projects with secured partnerships.
Dashboard:
Motion to direct Flood Control to maintain the public 2018 Flood Bond dashboard – which includes but is not limited to project schedules, prioritization scores, budget, location, and lifecycle stage for all projects – and to update the dashboard quarterly in advance of Commissioners Court updates, including directing the Flood Control District to continue to work with court offices and the community to improve the dashboard’s user friendliness, including but not limited to:
Court Updates:
Motion to direct Flood Control to provide quarterly updates to Commissioners Court on the progress of all bond projects including spending and lifecycle stage.
Working Group:
Motion to direct Flood Control to convene the 2018 Flood Bond Working Group – composed of staff from the Court offices – at least quarterly in advance of Court updates:
Prioritization Framework:
Move to direct the Flood Control District to use the 2022 Prioritization Framework scores to allocate any 2018 Flood Bond funds that become available to Bond IDs that are paused and other bond projects where the scope and funds identified in the Updated Bond Package need to be increased. Funds shall be considered available when the bond reserve contingency exceeds 15% of the total remaining funds left to be spent. Any deviation from the Framework shall require prior approval by a majority vote of Commissioners Court.
Prioritization Scoring:
Move to direct Flood Control District to add 2022 Prioritization Framework scores to every Bond ID and associated projects where feasible and with the exceptions of buyout projects and countywide projects as noted in the 2022 Prioritization Framework transmittal.
Additional Information about Project Rankings and Spending
Heppen also provided two spreadsheets shared with commissioners:
In future posts, I will discuss how these changes affect Bond IDs and projects in the Lake Houston Area and elsewhere that didn’t make the cut. So check back often.
Posted by Bob Rehak
2943 Days since Hurricane Harvey
HCFCD Launches New Flood-Bond Dashboard
9/18/25 – Just-in-Time Data! Harris County Commissioners have been begging for up-to-date information about the 2018 Flood Bond since February. Today, they will see a new Flood Bond Dashboard. It should enable them to make better, more timely decisions about flood-bond projects.
At times in the last few months, Commissioners requests became both blunt and brutal. But last night, HCFCD launched a new interactive dashboard on the 2018 Bond page of their website. The dashboard shows detailed information about the overall status of the bond and each project within it.
Drilling Down Through Data
The dashboard includes two main sections.
Info boxes next to the map pop up and show additional information, including which stage of the project lifecycle the project is currently at. It’s a powerful and helpful tool that HCFCD intends to continue improving.
Take a Guided Tour
Below are some screen captures that illustrate the dashboard’s functionality.
Four main buttons across the top graphic let you drill down into information about the bond and projects within it.
Financial Summary
Clicking Financial Summary shows the total of secured funds plus where they came from.
Hovering over any one of the segments in the circle graphs translates percentages to absolute dollar amounts.
Project Summary
Clicking the Project Summary Button displays information about the total number of bond IDs and their project components.
Again, placing your cursor over a segment of a graph pulls up additional information about that segment.
Watershed Summary
The Watershed Summary table lets you compare spending to date and “funds remaining” within each watershed.
Project Overviews
The last button, Project Overviews, lets you drill down into any Bond ID and its associated projects to learn more information about them. Scroll up or down to select a bond ID or multiple IDs. Then check the one(s) that interest you.
Dragging left over the right hand part of the columns reveals more hidden columns.
In addition to the columns shown above, you can find information about the status of planning, engineering, and construction, as well as an ETA for construction.
Interactive Map
When you select a bond ID and then click the Map Query Button, the system highlights the location within the county.
Clicking on the location (represented by a dot) within the map then pulls up an info box that contains a narrative about the project. The box also includes lifecycle data and a close-up map of the project and its boundaries. See below. I checked Kingwood Diversion Ditch and then clicked on “Map Query.”
If you don’t know the Bond ID, start with the map and work in reverse. Clicking on one of the many dots on the map will still pull up the info box. From there, you can see the bond ID and then find the information in the table.
Other Related Information
The dashboard is still a work in progress. It launched last night. So give HCFCD a little time to work out any kinks you may find.
HCFCD plans to update the information quarterly and also issue a new Bond Update that incorporates dashboard information.
Check out the three summary reports at the top of the page:
Finally: this dashboard will supplement, not replace the Microsoft PowerBI tables or Excel Spreadsheets found elsewhere in HCFCD’s Activity section.
Watch Discussion in Commissioners Court Today
Commissioners will use this information today in Court to discuss the future of the flood bond.
Reportedly, commissioners’ staffs have used this information to eliminate some projects that had no or little benefit. They will recommend redeploying funding from those to remaining projects.
They also reportedly discovered that the budget shortfall was smaller than previously discussed and that they should be able to fund every project that already has partnership dollars attached.
That sounds like good news. However, this is a political process. So, I hesitate to make any predictions. Watch the discussion of Item 117 on the Agenda.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/18/2025
2942 Days since Hurricane Harvey
With Grant Deadlines Approaching, Bid Deadlines Are Slipping
9/16/2025 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) could soon be caught in a time squeeze.
Deadlines are fast approaching on hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Texas General Land Office (GLO). Yet HCFCD is pushing projected start dates for those projects further into the future. So, there may not be enough time to complete the jobs.
And further deadline extensions likely will not be granted. When HUD granted HCFCD an extension on 10 of the 29 projects, HUD’s letter said, in essence, not to bother asking for another extension. A GLO spokesperson said, “The GLO doesn’t have the statutory authority to override HUD.”
Status of Grants and Deadlines
Yesterday, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) released the status of the 29 grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They currently total $862.6 million.
The 29 grants fall into two categories: Disaster Relief (DR) and Mitigation (MIT).
HCFCD has an immovable deadline of February 28, 2027 for all Disaster Relief grants. That’s just 17 months away. And 9 out of the 10 that have not yet started won’t even go out for bids until next year. And one of those will be bid in the third quarter of next year, likely leaving only a few months to complete the $9 million project.
Let’s discuss the DR projects first. See the first group below.
Of the 11 projects in the Disaster Relief group, ten have already been approved and amended into the County’s contract. But only one has started construction. All the others haven’t even been bid yet. And won’t be for months.
Seven of Ten Remaining DR Projects Show Slippage in Bid Schedules
HCFCD periodically publishes “bid outlooks.” They tell potential contractors when HCFCD intends to advertise projects for bidding.
Comparing the June and August project bidding schedules shows that…
How do you get this far and not have projects ready to bid immediately after approval? An HCFCD spokesperson said, “It’s quite a layered process” with approvals from other authorities, too, i.e., for environmental studies.
Regardless, only 17 months remain before an already extended deadline.
According to a GLO spokesperson, when HUD granted the deadline extension, the letter granting the extension basically said, “Don’t ask for another.” The GLO spokesperson also confirmed that GLO did not have statutory authority to grant an extension against HUD’s ruling.
So is there time to complete the Disaster Relief projects?
Arbor Oaks Project Illustrates Difficulty of Deadline
Only 17 months remain to bid and build 10 DR projects. And it typically takes 3 to 6 months just to:
That leaves roughly a year to build the projects. But the ten listed above could have even less time because of slippage in the bidding schedules.
Only one CDBG-DR job has started construction already: the Arbor Oaks Stormwater Detention Basin in White Oak Bayou’s watershed.
No dirt has been removed yet. The pictures below show how the project looked on 9/16/2025.
The diagram below shows what contractors still must build.
If HCFCD misses that February 28, 2027 deadline, the county could be on the hook for up to $34.2 million in HUD funds. And because that project got the earliest start, it has the highest likelihood of beating the deadline. What about other projects that won’t even be bid until there’s less than a year to bid and build them?
Not far away, the Mercer Basin on Cypress Creek was supposed to take one year to build on an expedited basis. However, it’s now taken two years and could take another half year to complete.
Mitigation Projects Have Deadlines, Too
Because the DR projects have the most immediate deadlines, everyone has been focusing on those first. But the second group of 18 MIT projects also have deadlines.
All MIT funding allocated to the State of Texas after Hurricane must be turned into HUD by January 1, 2033. But the GLO needs 18 months to complete paperwork and package documentation for thousands of projects for HUD’s audit. So, the deadline for sub-recipients, such as HCFCD is July 1, 2031.
But there’s another wrinkle that puts even more pressure on sub-recipients to start projects soon. HUD wants the State to spend half the funds by January 1, 2027 – two months BEFORE the DR deadline.
How Real are the Deadlines?
There seem to be two different views of deadlines.
HCFCD’s current management, like a former Mayor of Houston, appears to believe that deadlines can be indefinitely extended.
The GLO views them as a contractual obligation, which if violated, could result in the taxpayers of Texas footing the bill for unnecessary delays.
According to the GLO, HUD changed its way of doing business after previous disasters such as Hurricane Ike, when some funds sat unused for years. So, after Harvey, HUD adopted, in essence, a “use it or lose it” policy with strict deadlines. Not everyone has gotten that message yet.
The potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for flood mitigation could make voters very unhappy.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/18/2025
2941 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.