4/16/25 – Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner Ritch Wheeler will host a town hall meeting tonight at 6:30 to discuss the 2025 Montgomery County Road Bond including the Townsen Blvd. extension.
One of the proposed projects is the extension of Townsen Boulevard south from the Grand Parkway toward Spring Creek. The Montgomery County long-range transportation plan shows the road eventually crossing Spring Creek and hooking up with Townsen Boulevard in Humble. However, the Townsen proposal on the 2025 MoCo Road Bond would not take it that far at this time.
The portion of Townsen on the 2025 Road Bond is the light blue within the purple area. The purple area is a portion of MoCo Precinct 3.
Location of Town Hall Meeting
The meeting has not been widely publicized. However, Commissioner Wheeler did post this on his Facebook page.
If you have concerns about the Townsen extension, which is part of the Road Bond Election on May 3, tonight may be your best chance to get them answered.
Tables on pages 13 and 14 of the agreement show the $27 million project taking place in four stages. Two of the four tables (Segments 3 and 4) reference placement of fill dirt within jurisdictional floodplains. Segment 4 also references building a bridge crossing to avoid wetlands. Section 2F of the agreement specifies a road completion date of December 31, 2027.
However, before leaving office at the end of 2024, Noack signed an amendment to the agreement extending the completion date to December 31, 2030.
So far, citizens have raised three main concerns about the Townsen Blvd. extension:
Traffic
Crime
Flooding
Traffic
Residents worry about how an increase in “cut-through” traffic would affect their tranquil lifestyles.
Crime
In a related concern, residents worry that if a Townsen Blvd. bridge ever did go across Spring Creek, it could give easier access to those in the City, who may have less than honorable intent. This is a very affluent area. Many families likely moved there to escape crime.
Flooding
The road will open up vast areas in floodplains to development. And those floodplains are expanding based on data acquired after Hurricane Harvey. But FEMA has not yet released updated flood maps. And even if they do, there is no guarantee that Montgomery County will adopt them.
Nor is there any guarantee that Montgomery County will adopt its new drainage criteria manual and floodplain regulations based on the higher standards anytime soon.
This map is from 2014. Townsen (red) will cut through many floodplains which are expanding based on data acquired after Harvey.
Residents downstream in Kingwood also fear what the floodplain development and increase in impervious cover could do. One highly reputable hydrologist told me that, “It would be like aiming a fire hose at Kingwood.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/16/25
2787 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/2025/04/Townsen-Extention-on-Bond.jpg?fit=1100%2C726&ssl=17261100adminadmin2025-04-16 13:02:362025-04-16 13:06:55MoCo Precinct 3 Town Hall Meeting Tonight Will Discuss Road Bond, Townsen Blvd.
4/15/25 – At a flood resilience workshop yesterday in Houston, the importance of a steady funding source for flood-mitigation projects became abundantly clear.
The Biannual Resiliency Workshop of the Society of American Military Engineers (S.A.M.E.) drew a star-studded lineup of speakers for the hundreds of engineers, lawyers and business people in attendance.
Alia Vinson, a partner at the law firm of Allen Boone Humphries Robinson LLP, made steady funding for flood mitigation the focus of her entire talk. She even wore green to underscore her theme. (“The color of money,” she said.)
Alia Vinson, partner at Allen Boone Humphries Robinson LLP, speaking at S.A.M.E. workshop.
After Vinson, the keynote speaker, Congressman Wesley Hunt, talked about “unsustainable federal spending.” The Federal government provides most of the flood-mitigation financial assistance in the country through FEMA and HUD. But both agencies have come under fire by President Trump and Elon Musk lately. That creates uncertainty for Texas where more people live in floodplains than the entire populations of 30 other states.
Competition for Flood Mitigation Funding Getting Stronger
Vinson’s talk focused primarily on the vigorous competition for funds in this Texas Legislature and the previous session. She began with the creation of the Texas Water Fund (Proposition 6) in 2023, which triggered a $1 billion investment in new water infrastructure needed to support a growing population.
The Texas Water Development Board administers the Texas Water Fund. It has the authority to shift money as needed between at least eight different programs. They award loans and grants to political subdivisions for local water and wastewater infrastructure projects. They include:
New Water Supply Fund
SWIFT
State Revolving Funds
Rural Water Assistance Fund
DFund
State Participation Fund
Water Awareness Fund
Water Assistance Fund
At least 25% of the $1 billion must go to the New Water Supply Fund, which supports projects such as:
Desalination
Aquifer storage and retrieval
Use of produced water
Transport of water
The point:
None of these has to do with flooding or flood mitigation.
This year, “new water” again is high on the Legislature’s agenda. Although nothing is final yet, base budgets have set aside $2.5 billion for the Texas Water Fund.
Pending Legislation Could Help Address Mitigation Needs
The Senate has already approved SB7 and sent it to the House Natural Resources Committee. A key provision makes the Flood Infrastructure Fund eligible for money from the Texas Water Fund.
HB16 does the same thing, but hasn’t made it out of the Natural Resources Committee yet for a vote by the House.
Two other bills pending this year would create a dedicated revenue stream of $1 billion per year for the Texas Water Fund. They are SJR 66 and HJR 7. The big difference between them: the Senate Bill requires at least 80% to be used ONLY for New Water Supply. That would limit flood mitigation funding to only 20% of $1 billion.
Still No Dedicated Funding Stream
I took away two main things from Vinson’s speech:
Texas doesn’t yet have a dedicated funding source for water OR flood mitigation projects.
The money available for flood mitigation is being fragmented among competing needs.
That dedicated funding source could quickly become increasingly important. Uncertainty continues to swirl around financial support from the federal government, which has the deepest pockets when it comes to flood mitigation and disaster relief.
This morning, Politico ran a story with the headline, “FEMA denies Washington state disaster relief from bomb cyclone, governor says.” FEMA denied the State’s request for $34 million for disaster relief even though it reportedly met all the criteria for assistance. According to the State’s governor, FEMA provided no explanation for the denial, but said “assistance was not warranted.”
Federal Support Uncertain
Another speaker yesterday at the S.A.M.E. workshop, U.S. Congressman Wesley Hunt, said he had talked directly with President Trump and Elon Musk at length about the Federal budget.
Congressman Hunt addresses S.A.M.E. workshop about ballooning federal deficitand need to cut spending.
Hunt said the U.S. has a $2 trillion annual deficit and that we are $36 trillion in debt. He characterized both as “unsustainable.”
However, a group called “Truth in Accounting” that monitors government finances reported this morning that the situation is even more dire. The group applies generally accepted accounting principles from the private sector to government spending reports.
Truth in Accounting also says the government needs $158.6 trillion to pay its bills, not $36 trillion. And that each taxpayer’s share of the burden is $974,000.
The ominous warnings from Hunt and Truth in Accounting come as President Trump has questioned whether to disband FEMA entirely and give money directly to states to handle disasters. According to Politico, Trump has created “a council to study what to do with FEMA and whether to get rid of it.”
The uncertainty surrounding future availability of Federal aid makes it all the more important for Texas to provide a dedicated, steady funding stream for flood mitigation.
4-14-2025 – Two weeks ago, I posted about HB2068, State Rep. Dennis Paul’s bill. It has the potential to create more effective flood control for more people.
Flooded property in May 2024 near San Jacinto East Fork in Montgomery County just north of Harris County line.
The post prompted 192 readers from across the river basin to write the House Natural Resources committee in support of HB2068. But not all concerned citizens stopped with the committee. One, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me the text of a poignant letter he wrote to Governor Abbott. It expressed sentiments I hear from many flood victims.
Letter to Governor about HB2068
Honorable Governor,
We desperately need your help in the Harris County, Kingwood, Conroe and Lake Houston Area.
As we all know, flooding rivers and streams do not respect jurisdictional boundaries. The water from several counties, cities and tributaries all end up in Lake Houston.
Eight (8) years ago I received 3 1/2 feet of water in my 1 1/2 year old single-story house. The financial, emotional and physical impacts of this event were devastating.
Red tape and politics aside, VERY LITTLE has been done during the past 8 years to mitigate future flooding. This is proven by several flood threats as a result of flooding from slightly greater than normal rainstorms.
The Harris County Judge and certain Commissioners have totally failed us. We supported a Flood Bond in 2018 to implement a number of much needed projects. But what did the County officials do? They changed the “rules of the project prioritization.” They said they would tackle the hardest-hit areas first. Instead they’re funneling the money almost exclusively to folks in low-to-moderate income areas.
The officials refer to it as “equity”; I refer to it as buying votes. Now, it is my understanding that all funds have been spent.
The City of Houston clearly knows additional gates need to be added to the Lake Houston Dam to handle the release of water from Lake Conroe. The City has been overseeing this project for over 6 years and not one thimble of dirt has been moved.
We are sick and tired of hearing excuse, after excuse, after excuse of why it is taking so long. It is my understanding that funding was approved. But I have to believe that inflation has seriously reduced the amount that will be available to spend.
Study, after expensive study, has been performed. BUT – no meaningful projects to curb flooding have been implemented.
I do not minimize the cost, time and complexity of these projects. BUT IT HAS BEEN 8 YEARS.
I’m convinced the current governing structure, as well as the officials involved, are incapable of planning and executing efforts to successfully mitigate future flooding.
THE TEXAS HOUSE IS CURRENTLY CONSIDERING A BILL THAT WILL CREATE A MULTI- JURISDICTIONAL BODY TO OVERSEE FLOOD CONTROL: HB2068.
ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE TO MOVE THIS FORWARD WOULD BE DEEPLY APPRECIATED.
We have been very “lucky” to not have a repeat of Harvey since 2017. However, I fear everyday for my family that our luck is about to run out!
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20240501-DJI_20240501091139_0042_D-2.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-04-14 19:42:452025-04-14 19:42:46Poignant Letter to Governor Urges Him to Support HB2068
MoCo Precinct 3 Town Hall Meeting Tonight Will Discuss Road Bond, Townsen Blvd.
4/16/25 – Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner Ritch Wheeler will host a town hall meeting tonight at 6:30 to discuss the 2025 Montgomery County Road Bond including the Townsen Blvd. extension.
One of the proposed projects is the extension of Townsen Boulevard south from the Grand Parkway toward Spring Creek. The Montgomery County long-range transportation plan shows the road eventually crossing Spring Creek and hooking up with Townsen Boulevard in Humble. However, the Townsen proposal on the 2025 MoCo Road Bond would not take it that far at this time.
Location of Town Hall Meeting
The meeting has not been widely publicized. However, Commissioner Wheeler did post this on his Facebook page.
If you have concerns about the Townsen extension, which is part of the Road Bond Election on May 3, tonight may be your best chance to get them answered.
Last month, Montgomery County Precinct 3 listed Townsen as its #1 project.
Normally, developers pay for roads like this. But in this case, taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill. That has many people concerned.
So does the long-range plan that shows the road connecting across Spring Creek to Humble.
But back in 2018, the previous Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack signed an agreement with Montgomery County Municipal Utility District No. 118 to fund the road improvement costs and reimburse the developer for its road improvement expenditures.
Tables on pages 13 and 14 of the agreement show the $27 million project taking place in four stages. Two of the four tables (Segments 3 and 4) reference placement of fill dirt within jurisdictional floodplains. Segment 4 also references building a bridge crossing to avoid wetlands. Section 2F of the agreement specifies a road completion date of December 31, 2027.
However, before leaving office at the end of 2024, Noack signed an amendment to the agreement extending the completion date to December 31, 2030.
Here are construction plans for the segment currently under construction.
Concerns about Townsen Extension
So far, citizens have raised three main concerns about the Townsen Blvd. extension:
Traffic
Residents worry about how an increase in “cut-through” traffic would affect their tranquil lifestyles.
Crime
In a related concern, residents worry that if a Townsen Blvd. bridge ever did go across Spring Creek, it could give easier access to those in the City, who may have less than honorable intent. This is a very affluent area. Many families likely moved there to escape crime.
Flooding
The road will open up vast areas in floodplains to development. And those floodplains are expanding based on data acquired after Hurricane Harvey. But FEMA has not yet released updated flood maps. And even if they do, there is no guarantee that Montgomery County will adopt them.
Nor is there any guarantee that Montgomery County will adopt its new drainage criteria manual and floodplain regulations based on the higher standards anytime soon.
So, flooding could easily damage many of the newer homes and affect the value of existing surrounding homes.
Residents downstream in Kingwood also fear what the floodplain development and increase in impervious cover could do. One highly reputable hydrologist told me that, “It would be like aiming a fire hose at Kingwood.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/16/25
2787 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.
Why Flood Mitigation Needs Steady Funding Source
4/15/25 – At a flood resilience workshop yesterday in Houston, the importance of a steady funding source for flood-mitigation projects became abundantly clear.
The Biannual Resiliency Workshop of the Society of American Military Engineers (S.A.M.E.) drew a star-studded lineup of speakers for the hundreds of engineers, lawyers and business people in attendance.
Alia Vinson, a partner at the law firm of Allen Boone Humphries Robinson LLP, made steady funding for flood mitigation the focus of her entire talk. She even wore green to underscore her theme. (“The color of money,” she said.)
After Vinson, the keynote speaker, Congressman Wesley Hunt, talked about “unsustainable federal spending.” The Federal government provides most of the flood-mitigation financial assistance in the country through FEMA and HUD. But both agencies have come under fire by President Trump and Elon Musk lately. That creates uncertainty for Texas where more people live in floodplains than the entire populations of 30 other states.
Competition for Flood Mitigation Funding Getting Stronger
Vinson’s talk focused primarily on the vigorous competition for funds in this Texas Legislature and the previous session. She began with the creation of the Texas Water Fund (Proposition 6) in 2023, which triggered a $1 billion investment in new water infrastructure needed to support a growing population.
The Texas Water Development Board administers the Texas Water Fund. It has the authority to shift money as needed between at least eight different programs. They award loans and grants to political subdivisions for local water and wastewater infrastructure projects. They include:
At least 25% of the $1 billion must go to the New Water Supply Fund, which supports projects such as:
The point:
This year, “new water” again is high on the Legislature’s agenda. Although nothing is final yet, base budgets have set aside $2.5 billion for the Texas Water Fund.
Pending Legislation Could Help Address Mitigation Needs
Vinson then shifted focus to this year’s SB7 by Senator Charles Perry and HB16 by Rep. Cody Harris.
The Senate has already approved SB7 and sent it to the House Natural Resources Committee. A key provision makes the Flood Infrastructure Fund eligible for money from the Texas Water Fund.
HB16 does the same thing, but hasn’t made it out of the Natural Resources Committee yet for a vote by the House.
Two other bills pending this year would create a dedicated revenue stream of $1 billion per year for the Texas Water Fund. They are SJR 66 and HJR 7. The big difference between them: the Senate Bill requires at least 80% to be used ONLY for New Water Supply. That would limit flood mitigation funding to only 20% of $1 billion.
Still No Dedicated Funding Stream
I took away two main things from Vinson’s speech:
That dedicated funding source could quickly become increasingly important. Uncertainty continues to swirl around financial support from the federal government, which has the deepest pockets when it comes to flood mitigation and disaster relief.
This morning, Politico ran a story with the headline, “FEMA denies Washington state disaster relief from bomb cyclone, governor says.” FEMA denied the State’s request for $34 million for disaster relief even though it reportedly met all the criteria for assistance. According to the State’s governor, FEMA provided no explanation for the denial, but said “assistance was not warranted.”
Federal Support Uncertain
Another speaker yesterday at the S.A.M.E. workshop, U.S. Congressman Wesley Hunt, said he had talked directly with President Trump and Elon Musk at length about the Federal budget.
Hunt said the U.S. has a $2 trillion annual deficit and that we are $36 trillion in debt. He characterized both as “unsustainable.”
However, a group called “Truth in Accounting” that monitors government finances reported this morning that the situation is even more dire. The group applies generally accepted accounting principles from the private sector to government spending reports.
According to Truth in Accounting, the government’s financial position worsened by $4.7 trillion last year, not $2 trillion.
Truth in Accounting also says the government needs $158.6 trillion to pay its bills, not $36 trillion. And that each taxpayer’s share of the burden is $974,000.
The ominous warnings from Hunt and Truth in Accounting come as President Trump has questioned whether to disband FEMA entirely and give money directly to states to handle disasters. According to Politico, Trump has created “a council to study what to do with FEMA and whether to get rid of it.”
The uncertainty surrounding future availability of Federal aid makes it all the more important for Texas to provide a dedicated, steady funding stream for flood mitigation.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/15/2025
2786 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Poignant Letter to Governor Urges Him to Support HB2068
4-14-2025 – Two weeks ago, I posted about HB2068, State Rep. Dennis Paul’s bill. It has the potential to create more effective flood control for more people.
The post prompted 192 readers from across the river basin to write the House Natural Resources committee in support of HB2068. But not all concerned citizens stopped with the committee. One, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me the text of a poignant letter he wrote to Governor Abbott. It expressed sentiments I hear from many flood victims.
Letter to Governor about HB2068
Honorable Governor,
We desperately need your help in the Harris County, Kingwood, Conroe and Lake Houston Area.
As we all know, flooding rivers and streams do not respect jurisdictional boundaries. The water from several counties, cities and tributaries all end up in Lake Houston.
Eight (8) years ago I received 3 1/2 feet of water in my 1 1/2 year old single-story house. The financial, emotional and physical impacts of this event were devastating.
Red tape and politics aside, VERY LITTLE has been done during the past 8 years to mitigate future flooding. This is proven by several flood threats as a result of flooding from slightly greater than normal rainstorms.
The Harris County Judge and certain Commissioners have totally failed us. We supported a Flood Bond in 2018 to implement a number of much needed projects. But what did the County officials do? They changed the “rules of the project prioritization.” They said they would tackle the hardest-hit areas first. Instead they’re funneling the money almost exclusively to folks in low-to-moderate income areas.
The officials refer to it as “equity”; I refer to it as buying votes. Now, it is my understanding that all funds have been spent.
The City of Houston clearly knows additional gates need to be added to the Lake Houston Dam to handle the release of water from Lake Conroe. The City has been overseeing this project for over 6 years and not one thimble of dirt has been moved.
We are sick and tired of hearing excuse, after excuse, after excuse of why it is taking so long. It is my understanding that funding was approved. But I have to believe that inflation has seriously reduced the amount that will be available to spend.
Study, after expensive study, has been performed. BUT – no meaningful projects to curb flooding have been implemented.
I do not minimize the cost, time and complexity of these projects. BUT IT HAS BEEN 8 YEARS.
I’m convinced the current governing structure, as well as the officials involved, are incapable of planning and executing efforts to successfully mitigate future flooding.
THE TEXAS HOUSE IS CURRENTLY CONSIDERING A BILL THAT WILL CREATE A MULTI- JURISDICTIONAL BODY TO OVERSEE FLOOD CONTROL: HB2068.
ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE TO MOVE THIS FORWARD WOULD BE DEEPLY APPRECIATED.
We have been very “lucky” to not have a repeat of Harvey since 2017. However, I fear everyday for my family that our luck is about to run out!
Sincerely,
(Name withheld at reader’s request)
Don’t Stop Now
Sound familiar? Please support HB2068. Write the governor and your other elected representatives.
But don’t wait too long. The vast majority of bills die in committees and never even see a vote on the House or Senate floors.
HB2068 received some good news today. State Rep. Charles Cunningham signed on as a co-author. But the bill is still pending in committee.
For More Information
For more information about HB2068, see these posts:
25/04/09 Natural Resources Committee Hears Testimony on HB2068
25/04/08 Action Needed: Support HB2068 NOW!
Full Text of Bill as Filed
Follow progress of the bill on Texas Legislature Online website.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/14/2025
2785 Days since Hurricane Harvey