Leaders from the Cypress Creek area met on 9/6/2022 to hear a pitch about forming a Cypress Creek Drainage Improvement District. The purpose: to accelerate projects that could reduce flood damage.
A Gathering of Utility District Heads
Approximately 100 to 120 people attended the meeting. Most represented municipal utility and other special purpose districts.
Much of the area is unincorporated. And when Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey addressed the crowd, he pointed out that those districts represent the “primary form of government” in that part of Precinct 3.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey addressing the Cypress Creek crowd about the formation of a drainage improvement district.
What Happened
Seven speakers throughout the one hour and 40 minute meeting reprised several dominant themes.
The steering committee doesn’t yet know all the details of flood-mitigation recommendations or their costs. The meeting was only a first step in soliciting input, gaging interest in, and publicizing such a district.
Creating the drainage improvement district would enable the 450,000 people in the 267-square-mile Cypress Creek Watershed to speak with one voice and get the help they need.
Developing large-scale flood-risk reduction projects can take decades.
“Control your own destiny.” Don’t count on help from Harris County anytime soon because of the current domination of Commissioners Court by a majority with other priorities.
Individual presentations addressed various flood-mitigation options such as tunneling, dredging, and construction of floodwater-detention basins. Cost estimates ranged from $600 million (for a first step) up to as much as $1-, $2- or $3 billion (during the next 20-30 years) depending on the amount of risk reduction people desire.
Forming Drainage District and Funding Projects Could Take Years
Speakers also addressed the steps needed to form a Cypress Creek drainage improvement district. Without going into excruciating detail, it could take years to form a district, determine a project list, estimate costs, determine the best way to fund improvements (i.e., bonds vs. tax increases), and raise money to begin construction.
The implication: start now. The longer residents wait, the greater the risk of flooding.
Issues to Overcome
Members of the steering committee fielded questions from the audience at the end of the presentations.
During Q&A, several in the audience pointed out that that flood risk is constantly increasing because of rapid upstream development. But task force members said that was beyond their purview.
It also became obvious from the questions that some people craved more certainty in plans, costs and funding than anyone at the meeting was prepared to offer last night.
I personally attributed that to frustration over three things:
Public skepticism and frustration over such issues could make the creation of a new drainage district a difficult sell.
Potential “First Step” Benefits
But if people can see past that skepticism, they may get a chance to accelerate flood risk reduction, and attract matching funds and grants from state and federal sources.
Said one engineer in the crowd after the meeting, “It’s amazing how much quicker things go when you have money!” Before the Flood Bond in 2018, the Flood Control District often had to save up multiple years to build one detention basin.
They describe their mission as helping to “facilitate the construction of 22 stormwater detention sites recommended in the Harris County Flood Control District’s Jones/Carter Study as the most feasible means of mitigating flooding along Cypress Creek.”
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/20220906-RJR_0927.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2022-09-07 16:28:132022-09-07 20:22:55Effort Begins to Form Cypress Creek Drainage Improvement District
The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will soon begin constructing its Lauder Basin Phase 2 in the Greens Bayou watershed. Scheduled for Fall 2022, Phase 2 is located east of Aldine Westfield Road in the area of the Castlewood Subdivision between Aldine Bender and Lauder Roads.
Location of Lauder Basin Phase 2 near Castlewood SubdivisionLooking S over Phase 1 of the Lauder Basin in March 2022. Greens Bayou on right. Phase 2 will go in the trees, upper right.
Size and Scope
This project help reduce existing flood levels by safely holding 651 acre-feet of stormwater during heavy rains. It will involve excavating approximately 1,152,200 cubic yards of soil, cost approximately $22.5 million, and hold 212 million gallons of stormwater. That’s more than a foot of rain falling across a square mile.
Phase II will be a dry bottom stormwater detention basin. A remnant channel, or “oxbow,” in Phase II will be recreated at the bottom of the basin.
Additional trees will be planted post-construction. While the stormwater detention basin’s primary function is to reduce flooding risks, the site may provide multi-use recreational facilities that would be developed by partner entities. Construction of Phase I of this project, located along Greens Bayou between Lauder Road and JFK Boulevard, was substantially completed earlier this Spring.
More Specifics
2018 HCFCD Bond Project C-34 Precinct: 2 Contractor: RES Gulf Coast LLC, dba LECON, Inc. Contract Amount: approximately $22.5 Million Construction Start: Fall 2022 Contract Duration: 581 calendar days (about 1.5 years)
Mid-Reach Program: Greens Bayou cuts across NW Houston to Greenspoint Mall, then parallels Beltway 8 south of Intercontinental Airport. At Aldine-Westfield Road it turns further south, and cuts under 59 by the go-cart track. This project is part of the Greens Mid-Reach program, which has restored a 10-year level of service to the Bayou and is aiming for a 25-year level.
Greens Mid-Reach Program. See Lauder Basin Location in lower right.
Construction Warning
Construction equipment will access the work area via Miranda Street. The contractor will use heavy construction equipment such as dump trucks, excavators, and bulldozers to remove trees, vegetation, and excavated soil.
Motorists should heed all warning and road closure signs and detours. Be alert to truck traffic when passing near construction access points and along truck routes.
Since April 2022, I’ve documented the ever-widening clearing of the new Royal Pines subdivision at the north end of West Lake Houston Parkway. See what the development looked like in:
At the end of August, it appeared as though the clearing was close to complete. Massive piles of dead trees remain to haul away. But the cleared area closely matches the general plan shown below.
Looking ENE across the new, barren Royal Pines subdivisionLooking SSE from NW corner of Royal PinesLooking WNW across Country Colony and Royal Pines, the clearing in the background.General Plan for Royal Pines. Click here for higher resolution version.
All across the region we see this same scenario played out over and over again. Why?
Bloomberg points out, “Money, of course. For homebuilders, trees are a nuisance. To keep a tree alive while building on a lot, they have to keep heavy equipment far away so they don’t compact the soil above its roots. They also can’t push soil up around the trunk. Preserving trees means keeping the topography of the lot unchanged, which often doesn’t fit their plans.”
Memphis Daily News interviewed the president of the local homebuilders association there. The article says that “a developer’s stance on clear-cutting trees often depends on landscape and lot sizes. It’s easier to save trees on larger lots because they allow more room to work.”
“If a developer goes in and he decides he’s going to do two-acre lots, trees are no issue and they’re going to stay,” said Tim Wilson, president of the Memphis Area Homebuilders Association’s executive board. “But if a builder decides the best use for a piece of property is 40-foot lots, then the trees are coming down, every single one of them. That’s because there is no room for a house and a tree on a 40-foot lot.”
Majority of Lots 40-42 Feet
Exploring the links below will show you the general plan and layouts for the first three sections of Royal Pines. Most of the lots are, in fact, 40 to 42 feet wide:
That increases impervious cover. Unless sufficient detention and retention basins slow the water down, accelerated runoff increases the time of concentration downstream. That builds faster, higher flood peaks.
Effect of Urbanization on Peak Stream Flows” by Dr. William Dupre, professor emeritus from the University of Houston.
Impact on Environment
Sciencing.com points out that clearcutting also has other environmental impacts. They include erosion, pollution and flooding. “
“The roots of trees hold moisture and keep soil in place, protecting it from washing away during wind and rain. This erosion can also lead to flooding in waterways. Because trees are no longer holding the soil in place, rain flushes the sediment into waterways. … That can impact the river’s ability to flow properly and cause flooding.”
All this clearcutting has the potential to increase runoff, erosion and sedimentation that could require future dredging…at public expense.
Eventually, the ground cover and forest canopy will regrow. But what about in the meantime? Neighbors have been lucky so far unlike those in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/5/22
1833 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/20220904-DJI_0445.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-09-05 16:14:332022-09-05 16:14:37202.8 Acres of Royal Pines Gone. Was It Necessary?
Effort Begins to Form Cypress Creek Drainage Improvement District
Leaders from the Cypress Creek area met on 9/6/2022 to hear a pitch about forming a Cypress Creek Drainage Improvement District. The purpose: to accelerate projects that could reduce flood damage.
A Gathering of Utility District Heads
Approximately 100 to 120 people attended the meeting. Most represented municipal utility and other special purpose districts.
Much of the area is unincorporated. And when Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey addressed the crowd, he pointed out that those districts represent the “primary form of government” in that part of Precinct 3.
What Happened
Seven speakers throughout the one hour and 40 minute meeting reprised several dominant themes.
Individual presentations addressed various flood-mitigation options such as tunneling, dredging, and construction of floodwater-detention basins. Cost estimates ranged from $600 million (for a first step) up to as much as $1-, $2- or $3 billion (during the next 20-30 years) depending on the amount of risk reduction people desire.
Forming Drainage District and Funding Projects Could Take Years
Speakers also addressed the steps needed to form a Cypress Creek drainage improvement district. Without going into excruciating detail, it could take years to form a district, determine a project list, estimate costs, determine the best way to fund improvements (i.e., bonds vs. tax increases), and raise money to begin construction.
The earliest such a district could even go on a ballot for voter approval would be November of 2023.
The implication: start now. The longer residents wait, the greater the risk of flooding.
Issues to Overcome
Members of the steering committee fielded questions from the audience at the end of the presentations.
During Q&A, several in the audience pointed out that that flood risk is constantly increasing because of rapid upstream development. But task force members said that was beyond their purview.
It also became obvious from the questions that some people craved more certainty in plans, costs and funding than anyone at the meeting was prepared to offer last night.
I personally attributed that to frustration over three things:
Public skepticism and frustration over such issues could make the creation of a new drainage district a difficult sell.
Potential “First Step” Benefits
But if people can see past that skepticism, they may get a chance to accelerate flood risk reduction, and attract matching funds and grants from state and federal sources.
A November 2021 Cypress Creek Program Implementation Plan developed by Jones & Carter for the Harris County Flood Control District estimates that 14,000 acre-feet of floodwater storage could remove:
But the estimated $600 million cost would exceed the amount currently allocated to the Cypress Creek Watershed in the 2018 flood bond. So more money would have to come from somewhere to achieve those benefits.
Said one engineer in the crowd after the meeting, “It’s amazing how much quicker things go when you have money!” Before the Flood Bond in 2018, the Flood Control District often had to save up multiple years to build one detention basin.
For More Information
To learn more about the Cypress Creek Flooding Task Force, visit their web site here.
For a list of the Task Force leaders, click here.
They describe their mission as helping to “facilitate the construction of 22 stormwater detention sites recommended in the Harris County Flood Control District’s Jones/Carter Study as the most feasible means of mitigating flooding along Cypress Creek.”
For the meeting’s PowerPoint, click here.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/7/2022
1835 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Construction Starting Soon on Lauder Basin Phase 2
The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will soon begin constructing its Lauder Basin Phase 2 in the Greens Bayou watershed. Scheduled for Fall 2022, Phase 2 is located east of Aldine Westfield Road in the area of the Castlewood Subdivision between Aldine Bender and Lauder Roads.
Size and Scope
This project help reduce existing flood levels by safely holding 651 acre-feet of stormwater during heavy rains. It will involve excavating approximately 1,152,200 cubic yards of soil, cost approximately $22.5 million, and hold 212 million gallons of stormwater. That’s more than a foot of rain falling across a square mile.
Phase II will be a dry bottom stormwater detention basin. A remnant channel, or “oxbow,” in Phase II will be recreated at the bottom of the basin.
Additional trees will be planted post-construction. While the stormwater detention basin’s primary function is to reduce flooding risks, the site may provide multi-use recreational facilities that would be developed by partner entities. Construction of Phase I of this project, located along Greens Bayou between Lauder Road and JFK Boulevard, was substantially completed earlier this Spring.
More Specifics
2018 HCFCD Bond Project C-34
Precinct: 2
Contractor: RES Gulf Coast LLC, dba LECON, Inc.
Contract Amount: approximately $22.5 Million
Construction Start: Fall 2022
Contract Duration: 581 calendar days (about 1.5 years)
Mid-Reach Program: Greens Bayou cuts across NW Houston to Greenspoint Mall, then parallels Beltway 8 south of Intercontinental Airport. At Aldine-Westfield Road it turns further south, and cuts under 59 by the go-cart track. This project is part of the Greens Mid-Reach program, which has restored a 10-year level of service to the Bayou and is aiming for a 25-year level.
Construction Warning
Construction equipment will access the work area via Miranda Street. The contractor will use heavy construction equipment such as dump trucks, excavators, and bulldozers to remove trees, vegetation, and excavated soil.
Motorists should heed all warning and road closure signs and detours. Be alert to truck traffic when passing near construction access points and along truck routes.
For More Information
For more information, visit the project page at www.hcfcd.org/C34.
Direct questions or comments to www.hcfcd.org/contact-us.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/5/22
1834 Days since Hurricane Harvey
202.8 Acres of Royal Pines Gone. Was It Necessary?
Since April 2022, I’ve documented the ever-widening clearing of the new Royal Pines subdivision at the north end of West Lake Houston Parkway. See what the development looked like in:
At the end of August, it appeared as though the clearing was close to complete. Massive piles of dead trees remain to haul away. But the cleared area closely matches the general plan shown below.
Why Developers Clearcut: Pragmatism, Profit, Affordable Product
All across the region we see this same scenario played out over and over again. Why?
Bloomberg points out, “Money, of course. For homebuilders, trees are a nuisance. To keep a tree alive while building on a lot, they have to keep heavy equipment far away so they don’t compact the soil above its roots. They also can’t push soil up around the trunk. Preserving trees means keeping the topography of the lot unchanged, which often doesn’t fit their plans.”
Memphis Daily News interviewed the president of the local homebuilders association there. The article says that “a developer’s stance on clear-cutting trees often depends on landscape and lot sizes. It’s easier to save trees on larger lots because they allow more room to work.”
“If a developer goes in and he decides he’s going to do two-acre lots, trees are no issue and they’re going to stay,” said Tim Wilson, president of the Memphis Area Homebuilders Association’s executive board. “But if a builder decides the best use for a piece of property is 40-foot lots, then the trees are coming down, every single one of them. That’s because there is no room for a house and a tree on a 40-foot lot.”
Majority of Lots 40-42 Feet
Exploring the links below will show you the general plan and layouts for the first three sections of Royal Pines. Most of the lots are, in fact, 40 to 42 feet wide:
The rising costs of land, borrowing, and building materials are forcing developers to squeeze more homes into smaller spaces to keep the homes affordable. In the Preserve at Woodridge, the lots are even smaller: 13 to the acre instead of 4-6.
That increases impervious cover. Unless sufficient detention and retention basins slow the water down, accelerated runoff increases the time of concentration downstream. That builds faster, higher flood peaks.
Impact on Environment
Sciencing.com points out that clearcutting also has other environmental impacts. They include erosion, pollution and flooding. “
“The roots of trees hold moisture and keep soil in place, protecting it from washing away during wind and rain. This erosion can also lead to flooding in waterways. Because trees are no longer holding the soil in place, rain flushes the sediment into waterways. … That can impact the river’s ability to flow properly and cause flooding.”
White Oak Creek
All along White Oak Creek, new developments are springing up. At 242 and FM1314, Mavera wetlands have bitten the dust.
Farther east, White Oak runs through the massive Valley Ranch area and the new Amazon transportation facility at 59 and 99.
Then Royal Pines borders White Oak as you get to West Lake Houston Parkway.
Finally White Oak joins Caney Creek, the East Fork San Jacinto and Lake Houston. (See below.)
All this clearcutting has the potential to increase runoff, erosion and sedimentation that could require future dredging…at public expense.
Eventually, the ground cover and forest canopy will regrow. But what about in the meantime? Neighbors have been lucky so far unlike those in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/5/22
1833 Days since Hurricane Harvey