Woodridge Village Construction Near Standstill

Construction progress on the Woodridge Village site has nearly ground to a crawl. After:

…Perry Homes should rename Woodridge Village the Village of the Damned (after the 1960 horror movie). What possesses these people!

Construction Update

The development is reportedly still months behind schedule. That may have something to do with more than 200 lawsuits against the developer.

My last update on Woodridge construction was 18 days ago and little has changed since then according to Elm Grove resident Jeff Miller who tracks construction progress on the site.

The culvert under the street that connects the northern and southern portions of Woodridge Village is now complete. But the street itself has no concrete or curbs. Photo courtesy of Jeff Miller.

According to Miller, “The culvert across Taylor Gully and cement structure around it are complete and ready for the road crew to pave over it.”

The trees that used to separate the northern and southern halves of the development are gone. Photo courtesy of Jeff Miller.

“The clearing continues in the northern section. More trees are laying down and turning brown. I have seen some activity like preliminary marking of the future detention pond N1,” says Miller.

The overflow channel between Taylor Gully and detention pond S2 just north of Village Springs in Elm Grove is being lined with rocks and concrete. Video courtesy of Jeff Miller.
Looking west and panning north. This clip shows that the construction company has hydromulched the berm that separates Woodridge Village from Elm Grove. Video courtesy of Jeff Miller.

“The berm, swale and backslope interceptor structures seem to be complete on the southern border with Elm Grove,” continued Miller. “They have sprayed the slopes with a green fertilizer/seed mixture.”

On the plus side, maybe the grass will help prevent more erosion.

Posted by Bob Rehak with help from Jeff Miller

735 Days since Hurricane Harvey and almost 4 months since the Elm Grove flood

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.

Upstream Section of Taylor Gully Nearly Restored

Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has nearly completed restoration of Taylor Gully between Bassingham and the Montgomery County line. At least one drain pipe still needs to be installed and some dirt needs to be removed. But the drainage ditch itself is looking much better.

Taylor Gully Excavated, New Pipe Installed

Said Jeff Miller, an Elm Grove resident tracking the work, said, “Most all grading and sediment removal is complete. It looks like they are finishing rebuilding and installing one last backslope interceptor pipe. In all, I counted 8 new pipes and 2 cleared pipes, the majority on the west side of the gully.”

Looking south into Taylor Gully from the culvert that separates Woodridge Village and Elm Grove.
This ditch had become clogged from upstream erosion. But now, HCFCD has almost totally restored conveyance. All images courtesy of Jeff Miller.

New Drain Pipe Work Nearly Complete

HCFCD reset this inlet behind Abel and Nancy Vera’s backyard.
 New backslpoe interceptor pipe with concrete structure not yet poured; end of metal pipe will be trimmed flush with concrete.
Drain pipe exits have been cleared. Some were totally submerged in sediment.
Soil near Rustic Elms still needs to be removed and replacement pipe installed.

Thank You, HCFCD!

A big shout out to the men, women and contractors of the Harris County Flood Control District for excellent work. It will help protect hundreds of homes that flooded on May 7.

Posted by Bob Rehak and Jeff Miller

734 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Lessons from A&M Community Health and Resource Management Workshop for East Montgomery County

On July 23rd, the Texas A&M Agrilife Extenstion, FEMA and Texas Community Watershed Partners held a Community Health and Resource Management workshop. Attendees included 29 officials, municipal staff, and stakeholders from Conroe, Patton Village, Montgomery County, Harris County Flood Control District, SJRA, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, the Bayou Land Conservance, Red Cross, United Way and more.

Community Health and Resources Management Workshop in action.

Protecting Growth from Flooding

Organizers dedicated the majority of the workshop to using a GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping platform, developed by AgriLife Extension’s Texas Community Watershed Partners. The platform allows communities to digitally draw different growth and development scenarios on a map of their community. Then they can see the implications, in real time. Which scenarios will increase or decrease disaster risk? 

The organizers challenged participants to double growth without increasing flood risk. The outcomes of the workshop have real-life implications for urban planning, building codes, flood mitigation and disaster recovery.

Here is the entire presentation of outcomes from the workshop.

Strategies Explored by Participants

The teams in the workshop explored strategies, such as:

  • Creation of more detention areas 
  • Public Education 
  • Flood Planning with community leaders 
  • Filling 
  • Public Involvement 
  • Education on flood insurance 
  • Messaging on flood risk
  • Buyouts 
  • Apply for HUD Community Development Block Grants 
  • Implementing higher standards 
  • Changes in Building Codes 
  • Collaboration with agencies, organizations 
  • Buyouts 
  • Future studies 
  • And more

This presentation provides an excellent demonstration of the linkage between planning, land use and long-term-risk.

External Links in Presentation Lead to Valuable Tools

One of the most valuable parts of the presentation: links to related resources from participants and planners.

For instance, this base-flood elevation viewer contained information that FEMA’s national flood hazard layer viewer did not. Using the former tool, I was able to look up Woodridge Village in Montgomery County. I found that much of it was in the high risk 1-percent flood plain. That explains why the developer is raising it so much.

All in all, if you have five minutes to explore this presentation, it could help you connect some dots.

Posted by Bob Rehak with thanks to Paul Crowson and Bob Bagley

733 Days since Hurricane Harvey