“More than 200 families will lose their land and homes Tuesday as the controversial developer in Liberty County continues mass foreclosures,” says Dolcefino. “Nearly 97 percent of foreclosures in the county are now linked to a neighborhood housing a growing number of illegal immigrants.”
A small part of 13,000-acre Colony Ridge in Liberty County. Photographed last spring.
One in Eight Colony Ridge Lots Foreclosed on This Year
The developer foreclosed on more than 2,700 properties before Thanksgiving this year, according to Dolcefino. With another 200 on the auction block tomorrow, that will make 2,900 – out of a total of 22,356 properties (according to the developer’s website). That’s about 13% of all the lots in Colony Ridge, foreclosed on in ONE year. More than one in eight!
According to Dolcefino, the foreclosure auction should take place on the steps of the Liberty County Courthouse from 10 to 1 tomorrow. Dolcefino caught the developer’s employees faking an auction last time.
Colony Ridge So Far Has Managed to Repurchase Every Foreclosure
Dolcefino also says that Colony Ridge has repurchased 100% of the lots it has foreclosed on. Thus, the developer sells and resells the properties many times over in a revolving door arrangement.
Colony Ridge boasts that they finances land transactions themselves. The developer makes it exceedingly easy to purchase the property with down payments as low as a few hundred dollars. But then he charges up to 13% interest rates on the balance. And the fees for water and sewage hookups can be astronomical.
No wonder the developer and his team (a bunch of ex-boxers) have an undefeated record. It’s the perfect combination punch for unsophisticated buyers, many of whom barely speak English: a down-payment jab followed by uppercut interest rates, roundhouse fees, and the knockout at the County Courthouse.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/1/2020
1190 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20200616-RJR_4059.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2020-11-30 22:49:002020-11-30 23:37:56Flood of Foreclosures: Hundreds to Lose Colony Ridge Homes Tomorrow
Atlas 14 Updates Rainfall Frequency Estimates Developed in 1960s
Developers must now design detention and storm sewers around rainfall rates that increase 16-32% compared to the old standards for Harris County.
Data included in Atlas 14:
Replaces rainfall-depth information used since the 1960s
Provides estimates of the depth of rainfall for average recurrence intervals of 1 year through 1,000 years, and durations from 5 minutes to 60 days.
NOAA collected this data in Texas through December 2017, which includes rainfall from Hurricane Harvey.
New Atlas-14 Rainfall Frequency Estimates for the Lake Houston Area
Floodplain, Detention & Fill Restrictions
The amended policy manual adopts the increased precipitation rates. It also specifies more rigorous criteria for detention basins and fill within the floodplain.
Amendments anticipate that the future Atlas-14 1% (100-year) floodplain will equal the current 0.2% (500-year) floodplain.
Harris County Flood Control District
Therefore, these amendments are considered to be interim and will be reevaluated once new floodplains have been produced as part of HCFCD’s Modeling Assessment and Awareness Project (MAAPnext) in late 2021. You can find more information on MAAPnext at www.maapnext.org.
Zero Net Fill
The old guidelines prohibited developers from adding fill only within the 100-year floodplain. Now they’re prohibited from adding fill within the 500-year floodplain, too. The policy is called “zero net fill.” It means developers cannot bring fill into the floodplains. They can, however, excavate fill from one part of their property and use it to build up another part of their property.
Under new guidelines, developers cannot bring fill into either the 100-year or 500-year floodplains.
For a 20-acre development, the average volume of stormwater within detention basins will increase by about 20%, or about 32,500 additional gallons per acre.
Effort to Harmonize Floodplain Regs with Neighbors’
Professor Emeritus William Dupré, Ph.D., of the University of Houston’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences filed a 36-page report with the TCEQ on sand mining in the San Jacinto River Basin. Dupré has broard experience with geologic hazards and risk assessment. He submitted his report in support of the petition filed with the TCEQ by the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative to establish best management practices (BMPs) for sand mining.
The first issue that Dupré identified is flooding. “With one exception, all sand mines in the San Jacinto River Watershed are located partially or completely within the regulatory floodway, an area delineated by FEMA as having the highest potential for flooding (and erosion) along major waterways. “[T]he floodway is an extremely hazardous area due to the velocity of flood waters which carry debris, potential projectiles and erosion potential…”. (Montgomery County Flood Plain Management Regulations, 2014, p.25)
Floodway Constriction
Dupré notes that partitioning large areas of the floodway from rising floodwaters by levees and dikes can result in increased flooding of adjacent areas.
A good example: sand mines on the north side the San Jacinto West Fork and I-45 have walled off half the floodplain, forcing floodwaters onto neighboring property on the south side.
Sand mines have walled off more than 200 acres west of I-45 and north of the San Jacinto West Fork. See below.The high dikes force floodwater to the other side of the river rather than allowing it to spread out on both sides.The concentration of water in a smaller area also increases the velocity and erosion. For close-up of area inside red circle, see image below.This shows how high the dike around the sand mine is.
Levee Failure Can Flush Pollutants into Waterways
“Flood-induced breaches in levees can also add to the problems of flooding, erosion, and sedimentation downstream,” Dupré says, flushing sediment and other pollutants into adjacent land, wetlands, and waterways. See two examples below.
In the top row, river migration eroded the pit wall which allowed the contents to drain into the West Fork near North Park Drive. In the bottom row, the entire contents of a mine pit drained into the West Fork near Bennett Estates.
In-Stream Mining Disrupts River Habitat
A. Google Earth image of point bar on the west Fork of the San Jacinto River; B. Same bar 5 months later showing un-permitted (i.e. illegal) In-stream “bar-scalping.”
“Since the passage of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1977, some states have heavily restricted or banned in-stream mining, as have many countries,” writes Dupré. “These restrictions are mainly based on the significant environmental problems associated with this type of mining.”
Such mining can create major disruptions of riparian habitats by increasing the amount of sediment put into suspension. “Major channel modifications can also occur, including upstream incision (headcutting) and downstream erosion and deposition.”
BMPs Can Make Compliance with Regulations More Efficient
In his paper, Dupré next examines applicable regulations and suggests several BMPs to supplement them. He recommends that:
All APO’s should develop and make available to regulators and the public a Comprehensive Mine Plan and an Environmental Assessment Report on potential impacts before permits are issued.
Likewise, all APO’s should develop and make available to regulators and the public a Reclamation Plan before permits are issued and file a performance bond ensuring reclamation before a production permit is granted. Such permits should have significant civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.
New mining should be minimized or restricted in delineated floodplains and floodways and channel migration zones (areas most like to be eroded by lateral migration and river avulsion).
Mines should be “prohibited within the adopted regulatory floodway unless it has been demonstrated through hydrologic and hydraulic analyses that the proposed encroachment would not result in any increase in flood levels…. A development permit must be secured from the Flood Plain Administrator prior to the placement of fill or other encroachment in the floodway….” (Montgomery County Flood Plain Management Regulations, 2014).
Stockpiles should be located outside the floodway, because of the high potential for erosion (and resultant sediment pollution) during frequent flooding.
Conclusion
Dupré acknowledges that aggregate mining clearly provides valuable material and employment to the state and nation.
Nonetheless, Texas is one of the few states where sand and gravel mines remain largely unregulated. Issues related to flooding, erosion, and sedimentation create many unintended (and undesirable) environmental and economic impacts associated with sand and gravel mines – especially in the San Jacinto River watershed. “I believe there is a clear need for the requirement for BMP’s to better protect the public and the environment,” says Dupré.
TCEQ Public Comment Period Rapidly Coming to a Close For Sand Mining BMPs
On November 11, the TCEQ held a public hearing on a joint proposal between TACA and the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative to establish best management practices for sand mining in the San Jacinto watershed. The public comment period closes on December 11, 2020 – in just 12 days.
If you want to weigh in on the subject, you can review presentations from the hearing here. TACA and the Lake Houston Area people are in substantial agreement on most points. However, they still differ on four key issues.
Where should the BMPs be enforced? On the main stems of the East and West Forks or on the smaller tributaries, too?
Should there be performance bonds for reclamation?
How far from rivers should the sand mines be set back for safety reasons?
Should compliance with best practices should be voluntary or mandatory?
If you have comments or questions for the TCEQ, please e-mail Outreach@tceq.texas.gov. Make sure to include “Sand Mining Rulemaking” in the subject line of your e-mail.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/29/2020
1188 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/2020/11/image.png?fit=455%2C269&ssl=1269455adminadmin2020-11-29 12:08:222020-11-29 12:14:14UH Geology Professor Weighs in with TCEQ on BMPs Related to Sand Mining
Flood of Foreclosures: Hundreds to Lose Colony Ridge Homes Tomorrow
Wayne Dolcefino, investigative reporter extraordinaire, posted a followup story today to his Thanksgiving expose of Colony Ridge, the world’s largest trailer park in Liberty County. It’s about a flood of foreclosures.
More than 200 Foreclosures Before Christmas
“More than 200 families will lose their land and homes Tuesday as the controversial developer in Liberty County continues mass foreclosures,” says Dolcefino. “Nearly 97 percent of foreclosures in the county are now linked to a neighborhood housing a growing number of illegal immigrants.”
One in Eight Colony Ridge Lots Foreclosed on This Year
The developer foreclosed on more than 2,700 properties before Thanksgiving this year, according to Dolcefino. With another 200 on the auction block tomorrow, that will make 2,900 – out of a total of 22,356 properties (according to the developer’s website). That’s about 13% of all the lots in Colony Ridge, foreclosed on in ONE year. More than one in eight!
According to Dolcefino, the foreclosure auction should take place on the steps of the Liberty County Courthouse from 10 to 1 tomorrow. Dolcefino caught the developer’s employees faking an auction last time.
Colony Ridge So Far Has Managed to Repurchase Every Foreclosure
Dolcefino also says that Colony Ridge has repurchased 100% of the lots it has foreclosed on. Thus, the developer sells and resells the properties many times over in a revolving door arrangement.
Colony Ridge boasts that they finances land transactions themselves. The developer makes it exceedingly easy to purchase the property with down payments as low as a few hundred dollars. But then he charges up to 13% interest rates on the balance. And the fees for water and sewage hookups can be astronomical.
No wonder the developer and his team (a bunch of ex-boxers) have an undefeated record. It’s the perfect combination punch for unsophisticated buyers, many of whom barely speak English: a down-payment jab followed by uppercut interest rates, roundhouse fees, and the knockout at the County Courthouse.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/1/2020
1190 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Interim Guidelines for Atlas-14 Implementation Until New Flood Maps Released
While reviewing the MAAPnext website today, I came across this 1-page PDF that outlines major changes to Harris County’s Policy Criteria & Procedure Manual (PCPM). It describes changes – based on new Atlas-14 Rainfall Statistics – that engineers and developers must follow when designing and constructing flood-control features as part of any development within Harris County.
Atlas 14 Updates Rainfall Frequency Estimates Developed in 1960s
Data included in Atlas 14:
NOAA collected this data in Texas through December 2017, which includes rainfall from Hurricane Harvey.
Floodplain, Detention & Fill Restrictions
The amended policy manual adopts the increased precipitation rates. It also specifies more rigorous criteria for detention basins and fill within the floodplain.
Therefore, these amendments are considered to be interim and will be reevaluated once new floodplains have been produced as part of HCFCD’s Modeling Assessment and Awareness Project (MAAPnext) in late 2021. You can find more information on MAAPnext at www.maapnext.org.
Zero Net Fill
The old guidelines prohibited developers from adding fill only within the 100-year floodplain. Now they’re prohibited from adding fill within the 500-year floodplain, too. The policy is called “zero net fill.” It means developers cannot bring fill into the floodplains. They can, however, excavate fill from one part of their property and use it to build up another part of their property.
For a 20-acre development, the average volume of stormwater within detention basins will increase by about 20%, or about 32,500 additional gallons per acre.
Effort to Harmonize Floodplain Regs with Neighbors’
Harris County works with surrounding counties and municipalities to upgrade and harmonize their floodplain regs. However, the effort has not yet yielded much fruit.
Surrounding counties, such as Liberty and Montgomery, have not yet mirrored these restrictions. In fact, those counties still use their comparative lack of regulation as a competitive tool to attract new development. That, of course, makes it doubly difficult for residents of Harris County. They must not only contend with their own runoff, they must contend with their neighbors’.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/30/2020
1189 Days since Hurricane Harvey
UH Geology Professor Weighs in with TCEQ on BMPs Related to Sand Mining
Professor Emeritus William Dupré, Ph.D., of the University of Houston’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences filed a 36-page report with the TCEQ on sand mining in the San Jacinto River Basin. Dupré has broard experience with geologic hazards and risk assessment. He submitted his report in support of the petition filed with the TCEQ by the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative to establish best management practices (BMPs) for sand mining.
The first issue that Dupré identified is flooding. “With one exception, all sand mines in the San Jacinto River Watershed are located partially or completely within the regulatory floodway, an area delineated by FEMA as having the highest potential for flooding (and erosion) along major waterways. “[T]he floodway is an extremely hazardous area due to the velocity of flood waters which carry debris, potential projectiles and erosion potential…”. (Montgomery County Flood Plain Management Regulations, 2014, p.25)
Floodway Constriction
Dupré notes that partitioning large areas of the floodway from rising floodwaters by levees and dikes can result in increased flooding of adjacent areas.
A good example: sand mines on the north side the San Jacinto West Fork and I-45 have walled off half the floodplain, forcing floodwaters onto neighboring property on the south side.
Levee Failure Can Flush Pollutants into Waterways
“Flood-induced breaches in levees can also add to the problems of flooding, erosion, and sedimentation downstream,” Dupré says, flushing sediment and other pollutants into adjacent land, wetlands, and waterways. See two examples below.
In-Stream Mining Disrupts River Habitat
“Since the passage of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1977, some states have heavily restricted or banned in-stream mining, as have many countries,” writes Dupré. “These restrictions are mainly based on the significant environmental problems associated with this type of mining.”
Such mining can create major disruptions of riparian habitats by increasing the amount of sediment put into suspension. “Major channel modifications can also occur, including upstream incision (headcutting) and downstream erosion and deposition.”
BMPs Can Make Compliance with Regulations More Efficient
In his paper, Dupré next examines applicable regulations and suggests several BMPs to supplement them. He recommends that:
Conclusion
Dupré acknowledges that aggregate mining clearly provides valuable material and employment to the state and nation.
Nonetheless, Texas is one of the few states where sand and gravel mines remain largely unregulated. Issues related to flooding, erosion, and sedimentation create many unintended (and undesirable) environmental and economic impacts associated with sand and gravel mines – especially in the San Jacinto River watershed. “I believe there is a clear need for the requirement for BMP’s to better protect the public and the environment,” says Dupré.
TCEQ Public Comment Period Rapidly Coming to a Close For Sand Mining BMPs
On November 11, the TCEQ held a public hearing on a joint proposal between TACA and the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative to establish best management practices for sand mining in the San Jacinto watershed. The public comment period closes on December 11, 2020 – in just 12 days.
If you want to weigh in on the subject, you can review presentations from the hearing here. TACA and the Lake Houston Area people are in substantial agreement on most points. However, they still differ on four key issues.
If you have comments or questions for the TCEQ, please e-mail Outreach@tceq.texas.gov. Make sure to include “Sand Mining Rulemaking” in the subject line of your e-mail.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/29/2020
1188 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.