Tag Archive for: Aldine ISD

All Clear: New Development in Humble Near Floodplain

While driving home from Humble this afternoon along Townsend Blvd. north of FM1960, I passed near a clearing so large and with trees piled so high that my jaw dropped into my lap.

I pulled over into the Aldine ISD school’s parking lot and put up a drone. The piles of downed trees looked about 30 to 40 feet tall. According to HCAD, several residential developers own the property in question. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the property contained wetlands. And according to FEMA, the property sits right on the edge of the 500-year floodplain. But FEMA’s map dates to 2014. This sits just west of Costco where Harris County Flood Control District took all those signature shots of Harvey flooding.

Photos Taken 4/3/2022

I took the pictures below this afternoon.

Looking NW from over Sam’s rear parking lot for trucks.
Panning left from first shot. Looking W toward Townsend Blvd. That’s Walmart in the upper left and Aldine ISD’s Jones Middle School in the upper right.
Looking SE from over Townsend toward Humble Deerbrook Mall in upper left and Sam’s in upper right. FM1960 is out of sight beyond Sams. Note wet area above leftmost trees and see Wetlands Map below.
Drone was at about 35 feet for this photo. Note how you cannot see roof of middle school. And some points in log piles appear higher than camera.
Fallen trees on cleared land in Humble.
Trees are almost as tall lying down as they were standing up.

Location Relative to Floodplains

Location of floodplains relative to property circled in red. Background map is from FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer. Note the flood map is based on 2014, pre-Harvey data and is currently being revised. Floodplains may expand.

Because no one lived on these parcels during Harvey, I’m not sure whether they flooded. Perhaps someone who lives nearby can tell me.

Property Had Some Wetlands

The large green spot in the center of the red circle appears to roughly correspond to the wet spot in the third photo from the top. From USFWS National Wetlands Inventory.

Plans for Property Not Yet Clear

The parcels of land in Harris County Appraisal District’s Map don’t exactly match what you see cleared in the photos above. Three residential developers appear to own all parcels in the vicinity. They include Hannover Estates, Townsen Landing LLC, and Headway Estates LTD. I saw no signage on the site indicating a name for a future development.

Altogether the parcels of land total more than 3.1 million square feet or about 71 acres.

I have not yet obtained construction plans or a drainage analysis for this land.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/3/2022

1678 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.