2/6/26 – The project to add more gates to the Lake Houston Dam has reached the 30% design benchmark, according to Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger. The 30% milestone is widely regarded among engineers as the point where the design becomes real enough that you can start working out the final details, including costs, geotechnical work, and permitting.
Eastern portion of Lake Houston Dam/Spillway where gates would go.
Flickinger added that the design team is already engaging with regulatory agencies, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE-Galveston), and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), to discuss project details and streamline permitting review schedules.
Significance of 30% Benchmark
The 30% completion benchmark is a widely recognized milestone in engineering and infrastructure project development. It marks the transition from conceptual planning into a sufficiently defined design that supports credible cost, schedule, and constructability judgments.
Decision-makers quote it because it is the earliest point at which a project begins to behave like a real, executable asset rather than a rough idea.
While definitions vary slightly by agency, 30% usually falls at the end of preliminary engineering (PE) or schematic design.
Typical deliverables include:
Horizontal and vertical alignments
Right-of-way footprint
Identification of utility conflicts
Substantial completion of hydrology and hydraulics models
Definition of drainage pathways
Identification of jurisdictional constraints (e.g., wetlands)
Likely permitting strategy
Elimination of potential fatal flaws
Engineer’s opinion of probable costs (much tighter than possible before 30%)
In this case, according to one engineer who previously worked on the project, they would also include pre- and post inundation maps and identification of the extent of areas benefitted.
First Defensible Go/No-Go Decision Gate
Why does the 30% point get quoted so often? According to ChatGPT, it’s the first defensible “go/no go” gate. Before 30%, optimism drives a project. At 30%, physics drive it.
At the 30% point, uncomfortable truths surface and cost escalation becomes visible.
Uncertainty gives way to measurable reality
Optimism encounters hydrology, soil, and gravity
Financial exposure becomes calculable
Scope reality emerges
In professional terms, it is the first point of engineering credibility. Before 30%, you deal with selection risk (Do we have the right idea?). After 30%, project managers deal with execution risk. For instance:
Will regulators approve it?
Will available funding meet Benefit/Cost requirements?
How will it affect downstream residents?
Will it meet needs outlined in the SJRA’s Joint Reservoir Operations Study, which is still incomplete.
How will construction of new gates dovetail with dam repairs?
Flickinger Already Met with Mayor About Next Steps
The City still hasn’t released details of its 30% plans for the gates.
However, City Council Member Fred Flickinger said, “Now we know how much more money we need to find to get this project done.” He has already talked to the Mayor’s staff about going to Austin to get it.
There’s still a long way to go. But we have reached a significant milestone and, according to Flickinger, all energies are headed in the right direction.
For months, Huffman residents have complained about TXDoT contractors dumping fill in the floodplain of Cedar Bayou. This morning, I caught the dumping on camera. The fill comes from two stormwater detention basin sites. One is almost complete. The other one is larger and still being excavated. Both sites are adjacent to the FM2100 reconstruction project.
Dumping Without Permit
Dumping fill in a 100-year floodplain violates county regulations.
Regulations Effective July 9, 2019
Dumping fill in unincorporated areas of Harris County, such as this one, also requires a permit, which the contractors do not have. Harris County Precinct 3 has tried to stop the illegal activity, according to Eric Mullen, Precinct 3’s head engineer.
Jason Haines, a project manager for Precinct 3, says this fill does not have a permit. He also has tried to stop the dumping. But the contractors have not complied. He says that compliance will require either: removal of the fill or removing an equivalent amount somewhere else in the floodplain.
The visual below shows where the fill is coming from and going to. In both cases, it’s coming from outside the floodplain and going into one.
Luce Bayou cuts across left, Cedar Bayou cuts across lower right. Aqua area = 100 year floodplain.
Reducing the volume of a floodplain forces stormwater to go elsewhere, i.e., into someone else’s home or business. That’s why the regulations exist.
This morning, I photographed a parade of dump trucks being filled up at the triangular site above and depositing their loads in the floodplain. The activity has been going on for months, according to local residents Max Kidd and his wife.
Below is a small sampling of hundreds of photos I took today and on two previous occasions. They have GPS coordinates embedded in them so you can verify their locations in software, such as PhotoGeoTag.
Triangular site adjacent to FM2100, which TxDOT is excavating. Approximately 26 acres.This dump truck with the blue cab was being filled up at the triangular site.
I then followed that blue truck to the dump site, a farm just south of the Luce Inter-basin Transfer Canal.
Dump siteSame truck with blue cab pulls into position to dump its fill through a door opening beneath the trailer.As it drops its load, a bulldozer immediately starts smoothing it out so the next truck can deposit its load.I watched this for hours, shuttling from Point A to Point B and back again.As one truck left, another moved in. The elevation of the fill is quite high compared to the height of the bulldozer.The presence of lights indicates the activity may continue after dark.Load after load…all in the floodplain.
And it’s not just this one mound.
Additional fill deposited on another part of the same property but not yet spread. Luce Inter-basin Transfer Canal at top.Residents say dirt from this detention basin was also deposited at the same site although I have no pictures of the actual dumping.
It’s the Principle that Counts
The dump site (l) is less than a mile from the Huffman High School and Middle School (r), making them more vulnerable to reduced floodplain capacity.
Note: all floodplains above are based on 2007 pre-Harvey data. The floodplains should get even wider and deeper when FEMA releases the new flood maps.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/5/2026
3082 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/2026/02/Huffman-Floodplains-copy.png?fit=1100%2C784&ssl=17841100adminadmin2026-02-05 16:03:542026-02-05 22:26:52Caught on Camera: TXDoT Contractor Dumping Fill in Floodplain
2/4/26 – Yesterday, the Houston Planning and Development Department called to say that Romerica has withdrawn the variance request for its plat application from the Houston Planning Commission’s agenda for 2/5/26. So, if you were planning to go downtown to protest it tomorrow, there is no longer any need.
Kingwood Residents Concerned about Floodplain Development
Local residents in Kingwood Lakes, Barrington and Trailwood Villages became concerned when they discovered that Romerica was back with the third-iteration of plans to build in the floodway and floodplains of the San Jacinto West Fork. Romerica was seeking plat approval to build a 500,000 square-foot, two-hotel complex with 125 large-luxury villas in a swamp.
The company claimed it would elevate all structures and 6000 feet of roads 60 feet wide on the northern-most part of their property.
During the debate about their plans with Houston Public Works, it became clear that Romerica had not complied with regulations requiring them to post signage at the entrance to their property that notified the public of their plans.
Unanswered Questions, Concerns
Yesterday, I received a phone call and email from John P. Cedillo in the City’s Planning and Development Department.
His email said, “The application for River Grove GP [General Plan] has been withdrawn by the applicant and will not be considered at the upcoming Planning Commission meeting on February 5. The applicant will need to re-submit and re-start the process including the notice requirements, such as notice letters and notice signs erected for the site.”
In my opinion, this is good news. Many questions remain about Romerica’s plans. For instance, they claimed the hotel would be a Fairmont. But after days of trying, I could not find anyone at Fairmont who would confirm that.
A source in the hotel business told me that the reputational damage to a hotel chain would be so great if one of its properties flooded that they typically have higher standards than even city and county regulators. That’s especially true of high-end international chains, such as Fairmont. Word of a flooded Fairmont Hotel would spread around the world overnight because they draw international clients.
Another source called the proposed development “on the wrong side of the tracks.” That was not a slur against Kingwood, just an acknowledgment of market potential for the planned location. He said that all chains look at traffic counts as their first location-screening tool. “If it’s not on or near an interstate freeway, they don’t want to hear about it,” he said.
Even though plat approvals have to do with street layouts, residents were concerned about the potential to make flooding worse in the area at the south end of Woodland Hills Drive – especially in an area where the thoroughfare itself, i.e., the evacuation route, would be under water in a 100-year flood.
In fact, it last went under water in May 2024.
Romerica proposes to build where water reached treetops to the right of Barrington in May 2024.
Ronnie Bulanek, a Barrington resident said of Romerica’s latest setback, “It is great news. It will/should be very difficult to develop the land in question without dramatic consequences for the neighboring communities. Until the Lake Houston dam and other flood mitigation issues are completed nothing should be developed in this parcel.”
For More Information
Romerica is the same company that previously proposed building 50-story high-rises next to the floodway of the West Fork. The Army Corps nixed that plan.
Romerica later proposed building homes on stilts. But the company ran into challenges with the Planning Commission then, too.
For more information on Romerica’s proposal, see their presentations which include schematics:
Those concerns were only exacerbated when Bloch obtained Romerica’s preliminary drainage analysis the day of the last Planning Commission Meeting on 1/22/26. It raised more questions than answers. Luckily, the Planning Commission deferred action on Romerica’s variance request at that meeting, too. District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger had it pulled from the Commission’s agenda.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/4/26
3081 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/2026/01/20260119-FEMA-Floodplains-for-Romerica.jpg?fit=1100%2C870&ssl=18701100adminadmin2026-02-04 14:24:052026-02-04 14:40:31Romerica Withdraws Plat Application for Proposed Floodplain Development
Lake Houston Gates Project Reaches 30% Design Benchmark
2/6/26 – The project to add more gates to the Lake Houston Dam has reached the 30% design benchmark, according to Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger. The 30% milestone is widely regarded among engineers as the point where the design becomes real enough that you can start working out the final details, including costs, geotechnical work, and permitting.
The plan calls for adding 11 new tainter gates to the eastern, earthen portion of the dam. They could release 78,000 cubic feet per second – as much as Lake Conroe released at the peak of Hurricane Harvey.
Flickinger added that the design team is already engaging with regulatory agencies, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE-Galveston), and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), to discuss project details and streamline permitting review schedules.
Significance of 30% Benchmark
The 30% completion benchmark is a widely recognized milestone in engineering and infrastructure project development. It marks the transition from conceptual planning into a sufficiently defined design that supports credible cost, schedule, and constructability judgments.
Decision-makers quote it because it is the earliest point at which a project begins to behave like a real, executable asset rather than a rough idea.
While definitions vary slightly by agency, 30% usually falls at the end of preliminary engineering (PE) or schematic design.
Typical deliverables include:
In this case, according to one engineer who previously worked on the project, they would also include pre- and post inundation maps and identification of the extent of areas benefitted.
First Defensible Go/No-Go Decision Gate
Why does the 30% point get quoted so often? According to ChatGPT, it’s the first defensible “go/no go” gate. Before 30%, optimism drives a project. At 30%, physics drive it.
At the 30% point, uncomfortable truths surface and cost escalation becomes visible.
In professional terms, it is the first point of engineering credibility. Before 30%, you deal with selection risk (Do we have the right idea?). After 30%, project managers deal with execution risk. For instance:
Flickinger Already Met with Mayor About Next Steps
The City still hasn’t released details of its 30% plans for the gates.
However, City Council Member Fred Flickinger said, “Now we know how much more money we need to find to get this project done.” He has already talked to the Mayor’s staff about going to Austin to get it.
There’s still a long way to go. But we have reached a significant milestone and, according to Flickinger, all energies are headed in the right direction.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/6/26
3083 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Caught on Camera: TXDoT Contractor Dumping Fill in Floodplain
For months, Huffman residents have complained about TXDoT contractors dumping fill in the floodplain of Cedar Bayou. This morning, I caught the dumping on camera. The fill comes from two stormwater detention basin sites. One is almost complete. The other one is larger and still being excavated. Both sites are adjacent to the FM2100 reconstruction project.
Dumping Without Permit
Dumping fill in unincorporated areas of Harris County, such as this one, also requires a permit, which the contractors do not have. Harris County Precinct 3 has tried to stop the illegal activity, according to Eric Mullen, Precinct 3’s head engineer.
Jason Haines, a project manager for Precinct 3, says this fill does not have a permit. He also has tried to stop the dumping. But the contractors have not complied. He says that compliance will require either: removal of the fill or removing an equivalent amount somewhere else in the floodplain.
The visual below shows where the fill is coming from and going to. In both cases, it’s coming from outside the floodplain and going into one.
Reducing the volume of a floodplain forces stormwater to go elsewhere, i.e., into someone else’s home or business. That’s why the regulations exist.
This morning, I photographed a parade of dump trucks being filled up at the triangular site above and depositing their loads in the floodplain. The activity has been going on for months, according to local residents Max Kidd and his wife.
Below is a small sampling of hundreds of photos I took today and on two previous occasions. They have GPS coordinates embedded in them so you can verify their locations in software, such as PhotoGeoTag.
I then followed that blue truck to the dump site, a farm just south of the Luce Inter-basin Transfer Canal.
And it’s not just this one mound.
It’s the Principle that Counts
Note: all floodplains above are based on 2007 pre-Harvey data. The floodplains should get even wider and deeper when FEMA releases the new flood maps.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/5/2026
3082 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.
Romerica Withdraws Plat Application for Proposed Floodplain Development
2/4/26 – Yesterday, the Houston Planning and Development Department called to say that Romerica has withdrawn the variance request for its plat application from the Houston Planning Commission’s agenda for 2/5/26. So, if you were planning to go downtown to protest it tomorrow, there is no longer any need.
Kingwood Residents Concerned about Floodplain Development
Local residents in Kingwood Lakes, Barrington and Trailwood Villages became concerned when they discovered that Romerica was back with the third-iteration of plans to build in the floodway and floodplains of the San Jacinto West Fork. Romerica was seeking plat approval to build a 500,000 square-foot, two-hotel complex with 125 large-luxury villas in a swamp.
The company claimed it would elevate all structures and 6000 feet of roads 60 feet wide on the northern-most part of their property.
But their preliminary drainage analysis also showed them bringing in fill dirt. And Romerica’s ambitious plans indicated they would have to bring in far more dirt than their drainage analysis indicated.
During the debate about their plans with Houston Public Works, it became clear that Romerica had not complied with regulations requiring them to post signage at the entrance to their property that notified the public of their plans.
Unanswered Questions, Concerns
Yesterday, I received a phone call and email from John P. Cedillo in the City’s Planning and Development Department.
His email said, “The application for River Grove GP [General Plan] has been withdrawn by the applicant and will not be considered at the upcoming Planning Commission meeting on February 5. The applicant will need to re-submit and re-start the process including the notice requirements, such as notice letters and notice signs erected for the site.”
In my opinion, this is good news. Many questions remain about Romerica’s plans. For instance, they claimed the hotel would be a Fairmont. But after days of trying, I could not find anyone at Fairmont who would confirm that.
A source in the hotel business told me that the reputational damage to a hotel chain would be so great if one of its properties flooded that they typically have higher standards than even city and county regulators. That’s especially true of high-end international chains, such as Fairmont. Word of a flooded Fairmont Hotel would spread around the world overnight because they draw international clients.
Another source called the proposed development “on the wrong side of the tracks.” That was not a slur against Kingwood, just an acknowledgment of market potential for the planned location. He said that all chains look at traffic counts as their first location-screening tool. “If it’s not on or near an interstate freeway, they don’t want to hear about it,” he said.
Even though plat approvals have to do with street layouts, residents were concerned about the potential to make flooding worse in the area at the south end of Woodland Hills Drive – especially in an area where the thoroughfare itself, i.e., the evacuation route, would be under water in a 100-year flood.
In fact, it last went under water in May 2024.
Ronnie Bulanek, a Barrington resident said of Romerica’s latest setback, “It is great news. It will/should be very difficult to develop the land in question without dramatic consequences for the neighboring communities. Until the Lake Houston dam and other flood mitigation issues are completed nothing should be developed in this parcel.”
For More Information
Romerica is the same company that previously proposed building 50-story high-rises next to the floodway of the West Fork. The Army Corps nixed that plan.
Romerica later proposed building homes on stilts. But the company ran into challenges with the Planning Commission then, too.
For more information on Romerica’s proposal, see their presentations which include schematics:
Chris Bloch, a flood activist who has studied Kingwood drainage issues for decades, had these concerns about the proposed development along South Woodland Hills.
Those concerns were only exacerbated when Bloch obtained Romerica’s preliminary drainage analysis the day of the last Planning Commission Meeting on 1/22/26. It raised more questions than answers. Luckily, the Planning Commission deferred action on Romerica’s variance request at that meeting, too. District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger had it pulled from the Commission’s agenda.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/4/26
3081 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.