A week after J. Carey Gray, a lawyer representing Perry Homes’ subsidiaries and contractors, promised the Mayor of Houston that his clients would move as quickly as possible to complete Woodridge detention ponds, there still has been no excavation activity at the job site. And in fact, according to Jeff Miller, an Elm Grove resident who visited the site today, much of the material and equipment that had been on site are now gone.
Lack of Detention Implicated in Two Floods
Twice in four months, Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest flooded severely when water from Perry Homes’ troubled Woodridge Village development overflowed into the streets of those communities immediately south and east of Woodridge.
Before the May flood, Perry had clearcut virtually the entire 268 acres, but installed only 7% of the detention.
Before the September flood, they had substantially completed only one more pond, bringing the total to 23% of the planned detention.
Percentage capacity of the five planned detention ponds on the Woodridge Village construction site as measured in acre feet. To date, only S1 and S2 are substantially complete.
So it’s not too surprising that the completed detention ponds overflowed in heavy rains.
It was like trying to store 100 gallons of water in a 23 gallon container.
Excavation Work on Detention Ponds Stopped for Two Months
As the pictures below show, there’s one piece of excavation equipment on the northern portion of the site and it hasn’t moved for about a month.
Looking west at northwestern section of Woodridge Village from helicopter more than a month ago, on 9/21/2019, two days after Imelda. Note the yellow excavator with its bucket resting on the ground in the middle of the frame toward the tree line on the right.Note the same excavator in the same place in the same position at the left of the frame. Photo taken 10/16/2019 from opposite direction, looking east.The foreground is where detention pond N1 should be. But the pond has not yet been started.According to the LJA Engineering report, it should have been excavated as part of the first phase of development.
Eight days later, you can see the same equipment still in the same place. However, it appears that two other pieces are now parked with it.
Photo taken by Jeff Miller on 10/22/2019 shows excavator in same photo it was photographed in on 9/21/2019, a month earlier.
Only Modest Repair Work on Ponds Since August
Resident Jeff Miller reported that an excavator removed some eroded sediment out of one completed pond (S1) after Imelda. Below is the photo he took on 10/6/2019. However, this was repair work, not newexcavation work.
According to the LJA Engineering Drainage Impact Analysis, Table 3, Phase 1 of this development was to have FOUR detention ponds installed: N-1 and N-2 (regraded pilot channel) on the north, S-1 and S-2 on the South.
However, no new detention capacity exists on the northern section which has the steepest slope and the largest surface area. It was to provide 77% of the total detention.
N-1 and N-2 should provide 62% of the detention capacity. However, N-1 doesn’t exist. N-2 is not fully excavated. And N-3, which will provide another 15% is only a distant dream.
Hundreds of Families Remain at Risk
The lack of progress on detention places hundreds of families at risk as we slog our way through another 5 weeks of hurricane season. The season ends on November 30. But flood-weary residents also remain wary of non-tropical storms, such as Tax Day, Memorial Day, and May 7th this year. In the moist, Gulf-coast region, heavy storms can strike any time of year.
Now, there’s an iron-clad contract if I ever saw one! However, as of October 22, 2019, no residents that I consulted around the site had seen any workers recently. Mr. J. Carey Gray, Attorney at Law, dated his letter October 17th.
According to resident Nancy Vera who lives immediately south of the construction site, there has been no recent construction activity anywhere on the site that she or her family can see.
Gretchen Smith who can see the site from her front yard in Porter has seen no workers.
Jeff Miller visits the site almost daily to check progress or non-progress of work. He had not seen any workers lately either. Moreover, he said that much of the materials and heavy equipment that had been stored on site appear to be gone.
Maybe Mr. Gray needs to consult with Larry, the Cable Guy.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/23/2019, with help from Jeff Miller, Nancy Vera, and Gretchen Dunlap-Smith
785 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 34 since Imelda
All thoughts in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy 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/2019/10/Excavator-Highlighted.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=110001500adminadmin2019-10-23 00:11:302019-10-23 00:12:40One Week After Town Hall, Still No New Work on Woodridge Village Detention Ponds
Recently, I flew up the West Fork of the San Jacinto in a helicopter and got some pictures of the new 91-acre Northpark Woods subdivision. It’s just north of Northpark, between Sorters Road and the West Fork. Where thousands of trees once stood, I saw a massive gash in the landscape. But when reviewing my photos, something else jumped out at me – the density of this subdivision and the percent of impervious cover it will have. Both the loss of trees and the higher percentage of impervious cover increase flood risk.
As we saw Perry Homes do with Woodridge Village, this developer clear-cut the land. Trees often don’t survive the heavy equipment used in construction. And working around them consumes time. So builders find it simpler and cheaper to let homeowners replant them. However, regrowth can take decades, especially in heavily compacted soil which stunts tree growth.
But the tiny lots in this subdivision mean buyers may never even attempt to replant trees. There’s not much room for them.
More Impervious Cover Per Lot
Developments with tiny lots have more impervious cover (roofs, driveways, streets, sidewalks) as a percentage of the lot. The higher the percentage of impervious cover, the faster runoff accumulates, and the higher flood waters peak.
Photographically, it looks like this. A civil engineer told me that homes like these can have 80% impervious cover.
Note how closely the homes are spaced. In the second row of 7 homes, you can see that garages take up almost the entire width of each home except for a front door.Driveways will eliminate most of the front yardsas you can see on the developer’s web site.Looking NW. Sorters Road is on the right on a diagonal.Compare the density and tree cover in the foreground to that of Oakhurst, beyond the tree line in the far background. Looking NE toward Oakhurst.Also note the huge erosion holes downstream of the weirs in the ditch. Those will soon be in homebuyers back yards.Note the proximity to the San Jacinto West Fork (as well as abandoned and active sand mines), in the background. Looking west toward West Fork and the Hallett Mine.Here, you can also see how that ditch erosion is already threatening the road along its side.
A Denver-based developer plans to sell these as starter homes. More experienced buyers ask tougher questions. When I bought a house in Dallas at a very young age, I didn’t even know what a flood plain was. Nor did I understand how inexact a science flood plain mapping can be. Or how quickly an upstream development can increase flooding downstream.
Within three years, I went from being two feet above the hundred year flood plain to ten feet below it.
Approximate outlines of development in white over MoCo floodplain map. Virtually half of the Northpark Woods subdivision is in floodplain (500year=brown, 100-year=aqua). New upstream developments have decreased the time of accumulation and increased flood peaks. See first graph above. Caution: the data behind these flood maps is from the 1980s and being updated.
The detention ponds on this site occupy the 100-year floodplain (aqua). About half the homes will be in the 500-year floodplain (brown). But keep in mind, the data on which this flood map is based has not been updated since the 1980s. So the real floodplains most likely cover far more area than shown here. Don’t be fooled by the 2014 date. The background image was updated then, not the height of the floods.
As long as less knowledgable people keep buying such homes in locations like these, developers will keep throwing them up.
Ironically, about three miles downstream, Harris County Flood Control is buying out another high density development near the West Fork. And Tammy Gunnels, only a quarter miles downstream – and in the 500-year flood plain – has now flooded 12 times in the last ten years.
The legal principle of “Caveat emptor” (Buyer beware) means that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made. Caveat emptor still applies when buying a house.
Most young people would not think to question when flood maps were last updated, especially if they see a date of 2014.
The data behind the flood map above is currently being updated as part of the San Jacinto River Basin Study by Harris County Flood Control, Montgomery County, SJRA and City of Houston. As of this writing, hydrologic and hydraulic models have been developed. Consultants are now calibrating those to known high water marks, such as those in this 2018 USGS study.
The USGS study shows that Hurricane Harvey at the Highway 99 gage (closest upstream gage) had an annual exceedance probability (AEP) of 2.4.
It could take years for that San Jacinto River Basin study to go through required public review and approval processes. Expect developers and other landowners to fight new maps every step of the way. More realistic flood maps will mean higher development costs for property that suddenly finds itself in a floodplain. And some properties could end up in floodways and be totally undevelopable. In the meantime, caveat emptor.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10.22.2019
784 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy 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/2019/10/EF-WF-Aerial_585.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=110001500adminadmin2019-10-21 22:24:412019-10-22 08:58:37Where Thousands of Trees Once Stood: The New Woodless Northpark Woods
The letter focuses on the discharge of stormwater containing sand, silt, and sediment from the Woodridge Village construction site on September 19, 2019. Further, the letter alleges that this discharge caused severe damage to the City of Houston’s “Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System” (MS4) and to the property of citizens.
It cites a City of Houston Ordinance: Article XII – Storm Water Discharges, Division 6 – Illicit Discharges and Connections, Section 47-741. The ordinance reads as follows. “Discharge to MS4 prohibited (a) A person commits an offense if the person threatens to introduce, introduces or causes to be introduced into the MS4 any discharge that is not composed entirely of storm water.”
The letter ends by saying, “I hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist all future discharges of sand, silt, sediment and debris from your Woodridge Village Development site into the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System of the City of Houston.”
Lawrence Childress, from the Stormwater Quality department within Public Works, signed it. Childress sent identical copies of the letter to:
The letter is a “demand letter” not a court order. A demand letter is a warning shot across the bow of Perry Homes. The letter simply says, “If you do it again, we’re coming after you.”
The City did not even send the letter to the registered agents for Perry Homes et. al., just executives for the companies.
No judge has issued any kind of restraining order.
This is simply a letter from a city employee to Perry Homes, Double Oak Construction, and Figure Four Partners.
Having said that, the demand letter does put Perry et. al. on notice. It describes the basis for legal action if the developer(s) allow sediment-laden storm water to leave their site again. As such, it has value in that it may motivate Perry, its subsidiary and contractor to fix problems that exist on the site. If they don’t and the problems recur, they will face a law suit.
The letter may also have value in that it eliminates a possible line of defense, i.e., ignorance of the fact that a problem existed. Perry Homes can not now claim that the City never told them of the problems.
Another benefit: Judges typically like parties in civil suits to try to settle their grievances outside of court if they can. This letter constitutes the first step in that process. It starts the “attempted settlement” clock ticking sooner rather than later.
Sides Are Talking, But No Concrete Results So Far
Having said that, the date on the letter says September 26. What has happened since then?
Representatives of the City met with Perry Homes et. al. on or about October 15. As a result of that meeting, the developers agreed to take the steps outlined in a second letter back to the City. Basically, that letter promised to finish all the detention ponds before building homes or more roads. But they did not agree to a firm deadline.
Residents observed minor activity after the City’s demand letter. Workers scraped eroded sediment out of one of their detention ponds. However, since then, residents have observed little to no activity on the site. No new excavation work has started on the three detention ponds on the northern section since Perry’s response letter on Thursday, October 17.
The question is “Why the sudden stoppage after finishing the second detention pond (S2) on the souther section?” Usually time is money on a construction site; developers want to finish sooner rather than later. But work has virtually come to a standstill since August.
Since then residents have observed the S2 pond perpetually filled with water. To reach the pond’s target depth, contractors had to pump out water as they worked. Some question whether the water table in the area will allow Perry to achieve its stormwater detention goals. This would not be too surprising for an area of wetlands once criss-crossed by streams. Drainage converged here for thousands of years. See the drainage illustration from the LJA Engineering report below. The purple line represents the boundaries of Woodridge Village. Look closely at Section B.
Note all the streams converging in section B where Perry hopes to build 3 detention ponds and hundreds of homes. The streams have already been filled in with dirt.
Troubling Inconsistency in Letter
The City said in the cease and desist letter to Perry Homes et. al. that the sediment had caused severe damage to the City’s storm sewers. However, the City did not specify what damages were. And in public meetings in Elm Grove and at the Kingwood Community Center, Council Member Dave Martin told residents that the storm drains were NOT blocked. He said, “they’re so clean you could eat off them.” I’m not sure whether the drains are blocked or not.
The City has not yet completed its investigation of the sewers. But this is a troubling inconsistency. Frankly, looking at the ankle-deep much on Village Springs Drive next to Woodridge, I find it hard to see how the storm drains could NOT have sediment in them.
Abel Versa had to grab his car to avoid slipping in ankle-deep sediment on Village Springs. Rainwater alone would not have deposited so much muck. Sand also covered the one street in Woodridge Village two days after Imelda. Note the height of the sand pushed up against and over silt fences by the storm.
If Perry is sincere about fixing this mess, they need to come clean (pun intended). They need to explain why they have stopped work in the face of such clear cut danger. They have substantially completed only 23 percent of the detention on their site and have stopped work. The public deserves to know why.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/21/2019 with help from Nancy Vera, Jeff Miller, Bill Fowler, Amy Slaughter, Judith Rehak, Josh Alberson and Raines Rushin
783 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 32 since Imelda
All thoughts in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy 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/2019/10/Helicopter_142.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=110001500adminadmin2019-10-21 17:56:362019-10-21 20:57:02Text of Houston’s Cease and Desist Letter to Perry Homes Regarding Sediment Discharges from Woodridge Village
One Week After Town Hall, Still No New Work on Woodridge Village Detention Ponds
A week after J. Carey Gray, a lawyer representing Perry Homes’ subsidiaries and contractors, promised the Mayor of Houston that his clients would move as quickly as possible to complete Woodridge detention ponds, there still has been no excavation activity at the job site. And in fact, according to Jeff Miller, an Elm Grove resident who visited the site today, much of the material and equipment that had been on site are now gone.
Lack of Detention Implicated in Two Floods
Twice in four months, Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest flooded severely when water from Perry Homes’ troubled Woodridge Village development overflowed into the streets of those communities immediately south and east of Woodridge.
So it’s not too surprising that the completed detention ponds overflowed in heavy rains.
Excavation Work on Detention Ponds Stopped for Two Months
Where’s Larry the Cable Guy when you need him? He could “git-r-done.”
As the pictures below show, there’s one piece of excavation equipment on the northern portion of the site and it hasn’t moved for about a month.
Eight days later, you can see the same equipment still in the same place. However, it appears that two other pieces are now parked with it.
Only Modest Repair Work on Ponds Since August
Resident Jeff Miller reported that an excavator removed some eroded sediment out of one completed pond (S1) after Imelda. Below is the photo he took on 10/6/2019. However, this was repair work, not new excavation work.
Four Detention Ponds Promised as Part of Phase 1
According to the LJA Engineering Drainage Impact Analysis, Table 3, Phase 1 of this development was to have FOUR detention ponds installed: N-1 and N-2 (regraded pilot channel) on the north, S-1 and S-2 on the South.
N-1 and N-2 should provide 62% of the detention capacity. However, N-1 doesn’t exist. N-2 is not fully excavated. And N-3, which will provide another 15% is only a distant dream.
Hundreds of Families Remain at Risk
The lack of progress on detention places hundreds of families at risk as we slog our way through another 5 weeks of hurricane season. The season ends on November 30. But flood-weary residents also remain wary of non-tropical storms, such as Tax Day, Memorial Day, and May 7th this year. In the moist, Gulf-coast region, heavy storms can strike any time of year.
J. Carey Gray’s Promise
Last week, J. Carey Gray, Attorney at Law, made a promise to the City of Houston’s top lawyer, Mayor Sylvester Turner. Gray said, “To the extent possible, we will attempt to begin each project as quickly as plans can be completed and approved.”
Now, there’s an iron-clad contract if I ever saw one! However, as of October 22, 2019, no residents that I consulted around the site had seen any workers recently. Mr. J. Carey Gray, Attorney at Law, dated his letter October 17th.
According to resident Nancy Vera who lives immediately south of the construction site, there has been no recent construction activity anywhere on the site that she or her family can see.
Gretchen Smith who can see the site from her front yard in Porter has seen no workers.
Jeff Miller visits the site almost daily to check progress or non-progress of work. He had not seen any workers lately either. Moreover, he said that much of the materials and heavy equipment that had been stored on site appear to be gone.
Maybe Mr. Gray needs to consult with Larry, the Cable Guy.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/23/2019, with help from Jeff Miller, Nancy Vera, and Gretchen Dunlap-Smith
785 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 34 since Imelda
All thoughts in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Where Thousands of Trees Once Stood: The New Woodless Northpark Woods
Recently, I flew up the West Fork of the San Jacinto in a helicopter and got some pictures of the new 91-acre Northpark Woods subdivision. It’s just north of Northpark, between Sorters Road and the West Fork. Where thousands of trees once stood, I saw a massive gash in the landscape. But when reviewing my photos, something else jumped out at me – the density of this subdivision and the percent of impervious cover it will have. Both the loss of trees and the higher percentage of impervious cover increase flood risk.
Inner-City Density Comes to Suburban MoCo
I previously wrote about Northpark Woods in a post called “Living on the Edge or the Death of Caution.”
As we saw Perry Homes do with Woodridge Village, this developer clear-cut the land. Trees often don’t survive the heavy equipment used in construction. And working around them consumes time. So builders find it simpler and cheaper to let homeowners replant them. However, regrowth can take decades, especially in heavily compacted soil which stunts tree growth.
More Impervious Cover Per Lot
Developments with tiny lots have more impervious cover (roofs, driveways, streets, sidewalks) as a percentage of the lot. The higher the percentage of impervious cover, the faster runoff accumulates, and the higher flood waters peak.
Graphically, it looks like this.
Aerial Images Taken on 10.2.19
Photographically, it looks like this. A civil engineer told me that homes like these can have 80% impervious cover.
In Shenandoah, TX, upstream from here, the City has allowed up to 10 lots per acre with 90% impervious cover!
Shifting Flood Plains
A Denver-based developer plans to sell these as starter homes. More experienced buyers ask tougher questions. When I bought a house in Dallas at a very young age, I didn’t even know what a flood plain was. Nor did I understand how inexact a science flood plain mapping can be. Or how quickly an upstream development can increase flooding downstream.
The detention ponds on this site occupy the 100-year floodplain (aqua). About half the homes will be in the 500-year floodplain (brown). But keep in mind, the data on which this flood map is based has not been updated since the 1980s. So the real floodplains most likely cover far more area than shown here. Don’t be fooled by the 2014 date. The background image was updated then, not the height of the floods.
Ironically, about three miles downstream, Harris County Flood Control is buying out another high density development near the West Fork. And Tammy Gunnels, only a quarter miles downstream – and in the 500-year flood plain – has now flooded 12 times in the last ten years.
Buyer Beware
Among the many other dangers of building in this location: river migration. The San Jacinto West Fork is migrating toward these homes at the rate of about 20 feet per year. When the river captures the abandoned sand pits next to these homes, it could migrate much faster.
The legal principle of “Caveat emptor” (Buyer beware) means that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made. Caveat emptor still applies when buying a house.
The data behind the flood map above is currently being updated as part of the San Jacinto River Basin Study by Harris County Flood Control, Montgomery County, SJRA and City of Houston. As of this writing, hydrologic and hydraulic models have been developed. Consultants are now calibrating those to known high water marks, such as those in this 2018 USGS study.
The USGS study shows that Hurricane Harvey at the Highway 99 gage (closest upstream gage) had an annual exceedance probability (AEP) of 2.4.
It could take years for that San Jacinto River Basin study to go through required public review and approval processes. Expect developers and other landowners to fight new maps every step of the way. More realistic flood maps will mean higher development costs for property that suddenly finds itself in a floodplain. And some properties could end up in floodways and be totally undevelopable. In the meantime, caveat emptor.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10.22.2019
784 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Text of Houston’s Cease and Desist Letter to Perry Homes Regarding Sediment Discharges from Woodridge Village
The full text of the City of Houston’s controversial Cease and Desist letter to Perry Homes regarding the recent flooding in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest, has finally been made public. Raines Rushin, an Elm Grove resident obtained the letter(s) through a TPIA request (Texas Public Information Act).
Summary of Letter
The letter focuses on the discharge of stormwater containing sand, silt, and sediment from the Woodridge Village construction site on September 19, 2019. Further, the letter alleges that this discharge caused severe damage to the City of Houston’s “Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System” (MS4) and to the property of citizens.
It cites a City of Houston Ordinance: Article XII – Storm Water Discharges, Division 6 – Illicit Discharges and Connections, Section 47-741. The ordinance reads as follows. “Discharge to MS4 prohibited (a) A person commits an offense if the person threatens to introduce, introduces or causes to be introduced into the MS4 any discharge that is not composed entirely of storm water.”
The letter ends by saying, “I hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist all future discharges of sand, silt, sediment and debris from your Woodridge Village Development site into the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System of the City of Houston.”
Lawrence Childress, from the Stormwater Quality department within Public Works, signed it. Childress sent identical copies of the letter to:
To see the full text, including addresses, click here.
What the Letter Does and Doesn’t Do
The letter is a “demand letter” not a court order. A demand letter is a warning shot across the bow of Perry Homes. The letter simply says, “If you do it again, we’re coming after you.”
Having said that, the demand letter does put Perry et. al. on notice. It describes the basis for legal action if the developer(s) allow sediment-laden storm water to leave their site again. As such, it has value in that it may motivate Perry, its subsidiary and contractor to fix problems that exist on the site. If they don’t and the problems recur, they will face a law suit.
The letter may also have value in that it eliminates a possible line of defense, i.e., ignorance of the fact that a problem existed. Perry Homes can not now claim that the City never told them of the problems.
Another benefit: Judges typically like parties in civil suits to try to settle their grievances outside of court if they can. This letter constitutes the first step in that process. It starts the “attempted settlement” clock ticking sooner rather than later.
Sides Are Talking, But No Concrete Results So Far
Having said that, the date on the letter says September 26. What has happened since then?
Representatives of the City met with Perry Homes et. al. on or about October 15. As a result of that meeting, the developers agreed to take the steps outlined in a second letter back to the City. Basically, that letter promised to finish all the detention ponds before building homes or more roads. But they did not agree to a firm deadline.
Residents observed minor activity after the City’s demand letter. Workers scraped eroded sediment out of one of their detention ponds. However, since then, residents have observed little to no activity on the site. No new excavation work has started on the three detention ponds on the northern section since Perry’s response letter on Thursday, October 17.
Reason for Lack of Progress May Go Deeper
In November of 2018, Perry said they hoped to be selling homes by the summer of 2019. So much for the idea of possibly needing another 780 days to finish the detention ponds!
The question is “Why the sudden stoppage after finishing the second detention pond (S2) on the souther section?” Usually time is money on a construction site; developers want to finish sooner rather than later. But work has virtually come to a standstill since August.
Since then residents have observed the S2 pond perpetually filled with water. To reach the pond’s target depth, contractors had to pump out water as they worked. Some question whether the water table in the area will allow Perry to achieve its stormwater detention goals. This would not be too surprising for an area of wetlands once criss-crossed by streams. Drainage converged here for thousands of years. See the drainage illustration from the LJA Engineering report below. The purple line represents the boundaries of Woodridge Village. Look closely at Section B.
Troubling Inconsistency in Letter
The City said in the cease and desist letter to Perry Homes et. al. that the sediment had caused severe damage to the City’s storm sewers. However, the City did not specify what damages were. And in public meetings in Elm Grove and at the Kingwood Community Center, Council Member Dave Martin told residents that the storm drains were NOT blocked. He said, “they’re so clean you could eat off them.” I’m not sure whether the drains are blocked or not.
The City has not yet completed its investigation of the sewers. But this is a troubling inconsistency. Frankly, looking at the ankle-deep much on Village Springs Drive next to Woodridge, I find it hard to see how the storm drains could NOT have sediment in them.
If Perry is sincere about fixing this mess, they need to come clean (pun intended). They need to explain why they have stopped work in the face of such clear cut danger. They have substantially completed only 23 percent of the detention on their site and have stopped work. The public deserves to know why.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/21/2019 with help from Nancy Vera, Jeff Miller, Bill Fowler, Amy Slaughter, Judith Rehak, Josh Alberson and Raines Rushin
783 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 32 since Imelda
All thoughts in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.