Tag Archive for: Pineless

Royal Pines Goes Pineless

About a month after it began, the developers of Royal Pines have cleared a swath of trees about 1,000 feet wide and a half mile long.

Photos Taken 5/15/22

Looking NNE from southern end of Royal Pines. West Lake Houston Parkway on right. Photo 5/15/22.
Looking E from northern end of Royal Pines toward Triple PG Sand Mine. The trees between the foreground and mine will also be cleared. Photo 5/15/22.
Looking S. West Lake Houston Parkway in upper left. The large cleared area in the top right is Woodridge Village which flooded hundreds of homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest after it was clearcut and before the developer installed detention basins. Photo 5/15/22.

Clearing Started Before Permits Issued

Interesting that the clearing began before the permit was issued. See this post dated 4/24/22.
TCEQ Permit information. Clearing should be complete for the peak of hurricane season in September..

Plans Show 80+ Homes in Pre-Atlas 14 Floodplain

The following links will show you the general plan and layouts for the first three sections:

Note the dotted lines that snake their way through the top of the development. Those represent the 100- and 500-year floodplains.

Notice how a large part of the development is in “Zone X (Shaded).” That’s the area between the limits of the base flood (100-year or 1% annual chance) and the 0.2-percent-annual-chance (or 500-year) flood. I counted more than 80 homes in that zone. I also see six inside the 100-year zone.

Keep in mind that these flood zones are based on pre-Atlas 14 estimates. FEMA shows this area was last mapped in 2014. When FEMA approves new flood maps in the next few years, those zones will expand to take in more of the subdivision.

The subdivision at buildout will comprise more than the three sections. Houston Business Journal said Royal Pines will ultimately feature between 350 and 450 homes targeted at first-time home buyers.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/15/2022

1720 Days since Hurricane Harvey

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