Spring Creek bridge Archives

Update 10/16/25 at 10am – The Planning Department intends to recommend deferring consideration of the general plan discussed below until after the City of Houston District E and Harris County Precinct 3 have have met with the new owner.

10/15/2025 – San Jacinto Preserve and a sister company, Scarborough Houston LLC have purchased approximately 5300 acres of land west of Kingwood from Ryko Development and its sister company, Pacific Indio Properties.

Ryko tried for years to develop the property, most of which is floodplains, floodways and wetlands where the San Jacinto West Fork, Spring Creek, Turkey Creek and Cypress Creek all converge.

Concerns about flooding may have triggered Ryko’s sale after a succession of rapid-fire setbacks:

May 2024 floods and the second largest release from Lake Conroe in the history of the SJRA rekindled memories of Harvey’s devastation.
A Townsen Blvd. extension through the property was taken off Montgomery County’s 2025 Road Bond at the request of neighboring residents and MoCo Precinct 3 commissioner Ritch Wheeler.
The Montgomery County Engineer blasted Ryko’s drainage study
Harris County Flood Control did not approve Ryko’s flood-mitigation plans.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Ramsey lined up against a bridge that would connect the area to Humble.

Sale of Property to San Jacinto Preserve, LP, Scarborough Houston LLC

Under public pressure on all sides and faced with the loss of connectivity and critical infrastructure support, Pacific Indio sold the property to San Jacinto Preserve, LP and Scarborough Houston LLC in August of this year. Here is the Special Warranty Deed.

Both buyers have common ownership and management, as with Ryko and Pacific Indio. Companies often try to limit liability by setting up different companies for different projects. That way, if one part of the empire encounters trouble, it won’t bring down other parts.

In this case, the names of two men keep showing up: Ryan Burkhardt and James R. Feagin. Among the many companies under their control:

Scarborough Lane Development appears to be at the top of the food chain and headquarters in Addison, TX, a north Dallas suburb. All the other companies list the same address. So even though company names change, the same people control everything.

Scarborough Lane Development’s website says its “always committed to protecting the environment.” And it brags that it is “capable of handling the most challenging development projects.” We shall see.

Land Virtually Covered by Floodplains, Floodways

This project will test their talent as this map in Ryko’s drainage analysis shows. Only the small, dark gray areas in the red outline are above the 500-year floodplain.

Ryko drainage impact study illustration showing outline and floodplains. — *Ryko’s drainage impact analysis showed this map of floodplains, floodways and streams on their property (outlined in red).*

But keep in mind, that the floodplains will soon expand when FEMA releases new maps based on data acquired after Hurricane Harvey. The floodplain mapping above is from 2014. It predates the Memorial Day Flood, Tax Day Flood, Harvey, and the May 2024 flood.

On Houston Planning Commission Agenda for 10/16/25

San Jacinto Preserve’s (SJP) general plan is on the Houston Planning Commission’s consent agenda for Thursday, 10/16/25. See below. Their engineers chose to render the floodplains in barely distinguishable shades of gray this time.

Lisa Clark, who Chairs the Houston Planning Commission, also represents the San Jacinto Preserve.

Both Harris County Precinct 3 and City of Houston District E have requested the planning commission to postpone consideration until they have had the opportunity to meet with the developer and learn more about the plans.

Here is the General Plan that SJP submitted to the Planning Commission.

*For a full-size, high-resolution PDF, click here.*

This is a pretty high-level plan. It shows planned major thoroughfares, easements, pipelines, property boundaries, drill sites, and floodplains/floodways. But it’s not yet a plat that shows the street layouts of neighborhoods or homesites.

However, it does still show a Townsen Blvd. extension bridging across Spring Creek into Humble. That piqued my interest.

I called Mr. Burkhardt in Addison for clarification, but he did not return my phone call to confirm exactly what their plans are. So we shall have to wait and see. They will have challenges, no doubt.

MoCo Residents Successfully Protest Connectivity Plan

Yesterday, Benders Landing Estates (BLE) Property Owners Association (immediately north of the SJP property had a proposal on the Montgomery County Commissioners Court Agenda. SJP wanted to connect their new neighborhoods through a quiet, residential street (Shady Hills Landing Lane) in BLE.

They felt the street was not suited to handling the volume of traffic that a 5000+ acre development would generate. And their plan to block SJP access through the street succeeded.

Commissioners voted to abandon a one-foot-wide portion of Shady Hills Landing Lane in Benders Landing Estates Section 7. The land will vest to adjoining property owners, who can then effectively block SJP residents from exiting any new subdivisions through their property.

Commissioners Court unanimously approved the measure. It was a minor victory and likely will not affect the long-term war. But it showed the will of the community.

Profits Over People?

The San Jacinto Preserve development comes with inherent flood risks. At this point, we need to wait and see what they propose. At a minimum, it will likely include:

A new drainage-impact analysis
New plats that show the exact location of homes and their density relative to floodplains
Street layouts
The amount of impervious cover added
How much forest is lost
Flood-mitigation plans
A no-adverse-impact statement from Texas-certified engineers.
Environmental/wetlands studies including impacts on water quality in Lake Houston

One seasoned hydrologist held out little hope for the safe development of this property. She told me that developing it would be like aiming a firehose at Kingwood. She also suggested that the developer was putting “profits over people” and that the people of Humble and Kingwood should oppose it for their own safety. Check back often as news develops.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/15/25

2969 Days since 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.

4/4/25 – A Kingwood-sized development just upstream from the I-69 Bridge over the San Jacinto West Fork is half built out and growing quickly thanks to the construction of Townsen Blvd. which began recently in Montgomery County.

The area is bounded by the Grand Parkway, Spring Creek, and the San Jacinto West Fork. It lies almost entirely within floodways and floodplains. And it’s pockmarked by wetlands. A respected hydrologist told me that further development in that area would be “like aiming a fire hose at Kingwood and Humble.”

Townsen construction will open up many thousands of acres to new development. That has the potential to increase flood risk if newly developing areas receive insufficient mitigation. And that has many people asking questions.

Location and Size

Let’s begin by looking at maps that put the area and plans for it in perspective.

*Both outlined areas include approximately 13,000 acres. Kingwood on right. SH99 is yellow line running left to right across top of frame. I-69 runs N to S between red outlines.*

Construction of a major new thoroughfare in the area on the left will open up thousands of remaining acres to development. It’s called Townsen Blvd and will be four divided lanes.

Construction on the first segment began recently. And Montgomery County voters will decide whether to fund the next segment in a bond election on Saturday, May 3, 2025.

*Townsen Blvd. is labeled 01 in this screen capture.* *Purple section is already under construction.* *Green section proposed next phase as part of MoCo’s* 2025 Road Bond.

The green section is a major link in bigger plans that could eventually take the road across Spring Creek to hook up with Townsen Boulevard in Humble. Right now, plans show that section terminating at Rayford Road. But what about plans beyond that? The map below from MoCo’s 2021 transportation plan shows Townsen eventually pushing through to Spring Creek.

*Townsen Blvd. from 2021 MoCo transportation plan is long, dotted line running through center of frame* *and terminating at County line.*

In 2022, I wrote about a related proposal to build a bridge across Spring Creek that would connect to Townsen Blvd. in Humble on the Harris County side of the creek.

*Map shown on Page 25 of Army Corps Permit Application for the bridge across Spring Creek*. *Deadline for an application extension expires next year.*

Construction Already Starting at North End

Recently, work on the first portion of MoCo’s Townsen Boulevard started near SH99 (Grand Parkway). Photos below show contractors have only finished small segments of the first section so far. But new subdivisions and schools are already springing up adjacent to those sections and creating a stir that has area residents buzzing. See representative photos below.

*Looking S from over SH99 at clearing that will become Townsen Blvd.*

*Reverse angle. Looking N toward SH99 at clearing for Townsen Blvd. Note new school under construction in top left.* *Intersecting street on left is Waterbend Cove.*

*Looking S along another portion of Townsen Blvd.* *near Lexington Blvd*. *intersection in distance.*

*Looking back N across Lexington toward SH99 shows one of many new neighborhoods under construction.*

*Same approximate location, but looking 90 degrees west shows lots for sale, but not yet built on.*

*New school will host the children of families who buy into this area.*

*Ground level view shows how high Townsen is being built up.*

*Raising the road will keep it passable during heavy storms. Note wetlands on far side.*

Wetlands and Floodplains in Abundance

FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer shows that floodplains cover almost all of the area where the first two legs of Townsen Blvd. will be built. The map below is so busy that for reference, I had to superimpose a bright red line where Townsen will go.

*Approximate location of Townsen Blvd shown in red. FEMA base layer did not have new street marked yet.* *Striped area = floodway. Aqua = 100-year floodplain. Brown = 500-year.*

This map will likely get worse. It is based on data acquired after Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Experts say the floodplains and floodway will expand 50-100% when FEMA updates the map with new Atlas-14 data developed after Harvey.

But the quantity of wetlands in this area represent an even bigger problem. See the map below from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory.

*#1 and #2 mark intersections of Waterbed Cove and Lexington Blvd with Townsen Blvd. See photos above.*

Wetlands are nature’s sponges. Paving them over increases runoff and the risk of downstream flooding. The developers seem to be constructing a series of “lakes” around which they’re building homes. Such lakes are really detention basins in disguise. But because of the old flood maps, uncertainty remains. Will they offer sufficient mitigation?

Is Bridge a Real Possibility?

Neighbors want to know more about impacts of the road. That will depend on how far south Townsen Blvd. goes and whether a bridge across Spring Creek is a real possibility.

I asked several officials what the probability of such a bridge is.

Jason Stuebe, Humble City Manager, said, “Honestly, I don’t have much information to share. The developer completed the portion of the roadway within Humble, stopped at the city limits and that’s about the last we heard from them.”

Eric Heppen, Harris County Precinct 3’s head engineer, said, “We heard a few … rumors but nothing formally. To be fair, I hear rumors about it once a year at this point. Harris County has not been contacted about it and we have at least some of the jurisdictional rights over the creek. We reminded Montgomery County recently that we cannot do a joint project with them unless they adopt current Harris County Drainage Criteria.”

More impact data to follow as I learn more details.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/4/25

2775 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Tag Archive for: Spring Creek bridge

Developer Buys 5300 Acres of Floodplains, Floodways, Wetlands from Ryko