Tag Archive for: Woodridge Village Excavation

In May, Woodridge Village Excavation Total Reached Almost 124,000 Cubic Yards


Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) Woodridge Village Excavation and Removal contract for 500,000 cubic yards with Sprint Sand & Clay is almost one-quarter complete. Sprint excavated approximately another 9,000 cubic yards in May (5.8 acre feet). That’s almost double the monthly minimum and brings the total up to 123,882 cubic yards.

Stormwater from Woodridge Village flooded hundreds of homes twice in 2019. The excavation will provide additional stormwater detention capacity to reduce flood risk downstream in the future.

May/June Photos Show Progress

The first two photos below were taken at the beginning of May and June 2023.

Sprint Sand and Clay Excavation and Removal Contract work at Woodridge Village
Looking ENE. Extent of excavation on May 2, 2023
Looking ENE. Extent of Excavation on June 4, 2023

Up until now, Sprint has been excavating from west to east. Now, they seem to be excavating primarily from south to north.

HCFCD spokesperson Amy Crouser said that, “Essentially, the contractor is free to excavate where they want within the provided footprint.”

Looking east across new focus of excavation.

Where Does Woodridge Village Excavation Go From Here?

Sprint has excavated 76.8 acre feet so far. That brings the current detention capacity (old plus new) to 348 acre feet. That’s 90% of what Woodridge Village needs to meet Atlas-14 requirements.

If Sprint keeps excavating at the current rate, it could reach Atlas-14 requirements before the end of the year.

Here’s how all that looks in a table.

Acre Feet of Stormwater Detention% of Ultimate
Site Had When Purchased from Perry Homes27147%
Has as of 6/4/2334860%
Atlas 14 Requires38566%
If Sprint Excavates All 500K Cubic Feet580100%
Calculations based on original construction plans, HCFCD monthly reports, Atlas-14 Requirements and Sprint contract.

Sprint’s contract calls for excavating UP TO 500,000 cubic yards. Any excavation beyond Atlas-14 needs would create a safety hedge against future needs should they increase. 

Sprint will make only $1,000 from its Woodridge Village excavation contract, but will make its profit by selling the dirt at market rates. It’s a good deal for taxpayers, but carries some uncertainty with it.

A lot of flexibility exists for both parties in an E&R contract. If the demand for dirt dries up and excavation slows, HCFCD and Sprint could modify the E&R contract to complete a smaller detention basin sooner. But I assume it would still meet Atlas 14 requirements at a minimum.

But simply excavating the dirt isn’t the end of the job. Harris County still needs to slope the sides, plant grass, and tie the new basin into the site’s existing stormwater-detention-basin network. 

HCFCD and Harris County Purchasing are currently evaluating consultants’ bids to draw up the final construction plans.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/5/2023

2106 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Woodridge Village Excavation Approaching Atlas-14 Requirement

Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) Woodridge Village Excavation and Removal contract with Sprint Sand & Clay continues progressing nicely. The volume excavated last month shows a continued rebound in activity after a dip last year when the housing market slowed.

As of the end of April, Sprint has completed approximately 23% of its 500,000-cubic-yard contract. More important, excavation could meet Atlas-14 detention requirements by the end of 2023.

Sprint excavated an estimated 11,000 cubic yards in April – more than double the monthly minimum. That brings the total to date to approximately 115,000 cubic yards.

Photos Reveal Excavation in New Direction

Here’s what the status of Woodridge Village excavation looked like on 5/1/2023. For the last year, Sprint has focused on lengthening the basin. Now it is focusing on widening it, too. Note the work taking place in the upper left quadrant of the photo below.

Looking northeast.
Looking southwest toward Kingwood Park High School.
Looking east at current area of excavation.

Typically, HCFCD gives E&R contractors some general boundaries and says, “Start digging.” Sprint makes its money by selling the dirt on the open market. There’s virtually no cost to taxpayers. And usually the bigger the hole in the ground, the better. So, according to a former flood control executive, if Sprint goes beyond 500,000 cubic yards, no one will complain. It reduces flood risk free of charge.

But where is all this headed and why?

Past, Current and Future Capacities

When Perry Homes sold the Woodridge Village property to HCFCD in 2021, it had five stormwater detention basins with a total storage capacity of 271 acre feet. But because Montgomery County issued construction permits based on pre-Atlas-14 requirements, the development was approximately 42% short of meeting current Harris County standards.

Partially as a result of insufficient stormwater detention capacity, up to 600 homes downstream in Kingwood flooded twice in 2019.

After HCFCD bought the property, it hired Sprint to get a head start on Woodridge Village excavation of additional detention capacity while it worked out exact plans for a regional detention basin and Taylor Gully.

Sprint has excavated approximately 71 acre feet so far. That brings the current detention capacity to 342 acre feet.

But HCFCD will ultimately need approximately 385 acre feet of stormwater detention capacity to meet Atlas-14 requirements and it hopes to build even more as a safety hedge against future needs should they increase.

If Sprint excavates the entire 500,000 cubic yards in its contract, that would bring the total stormwater detention capacity up to 580 acre feet. In tabular form, the steps look like this:

Acre Feet of Stormwater Detention% of Ultimate
Site Had When Purchased from Perry Homes27147%
Has as of 5/1/2334259%
Atlas 14 Requires38566%
If Sprint Excavates All 500K Cubic Feet580100%
Calculations based on original construction plans, HCFCD monthly reports, Atlas-14 Requirements and Sprint contract.

Calculations in the last column assume that Sprint excavates all 500,000 cubic yards. But Sprint’s contract calls for excavating UP TO 500,000 cubic yards.

A lot of flexibility exists for both parties in an E&R contract. If the demand for dirt dries up and excavation slows, HCFCD and Sprint could modify the E&R contract to complete a smaller detention basin sooner. But I assume it would still meet Atlas 14 requirements at a minimum.

Based on April performance, Sprint is currently excavating approximately 6 acre feet per month.

If demand for dirt holds, excavation should reach Atlas-14 requirements near the end of 2023.

Still Much More Work to Do

But simply excavating the dirt isn’t the end of the job. Harris County still needs to slope the sides, plant grass, and tie the new basin into the site’s existing stormwater-detention-basin network.

An engineering team is currently working on drawing up final construction plans. Simultaneously, they are looking at how Woodridge Village excavation will impact Taylor Gully needs.

At the moment, no one knows exactly how this project will end. There are simply too many variables. The site could contain one giant stormwater detention basin or several smaller ones.

HCFCD often employs a phased approach with large projects, such as Woodridge/Taylor Gully. Consider for instance, Willow Water Hole on South Post Oak at Highway 90. Or the Lauder Basin on Greens Bayou south of Beltway 8 North.

A phased approach enables residents to start reaping partial benefits sooner, with an eye toward maximizing future risk reduction as circumstances and funding allow.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/2/2023

2072 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 1329 since Imelda

July Update: Woodridge Village Excavation Rate Slows Slightly

The pace of excavation and removal of up to 500,000 cubic yards of soil from Woodridge Village has slowed slightly in recent months. That may be due to rising interest rates, which have slowed housing starts. Contractors use excavated dirt to elevate homesites in new developments. But the Census Bureau says housing starts in June 2022 fell 6.3% below the June 2021 rate.

Woodridge Village Background

Woodridge Village was the failed 670-acre Perry Homes development that twice contributed to flooding hundreds of homes in Kingwood’s Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest Villages in 2019. Harris County and the City of Houston bought the property in 2021 to help reduce flood risk. They plan to do this by building another detention basin.

Perry left the site about 40% short of the floodwater detention capacity needed to meet current Atlas-14 requirements. Since then, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) entered into an “Excavation and Removal” contract (E&R) with Sprint Sand and Clay to begin removing additional soil. The goal: to get a head start on building an additional detention basin that would meet OR exceed Atlas-14 requirements.

Harris County Commissioners Court approved the contract with Sprint Sand and Clay on July 20, 2021. It obligates Sprint to remove at least 5000 cubic yards per month. Excavation started on January 27, 2022. 

During July, Sprint removed approximately 6,400 cubic yards of dirt.

HCFCD spokesperson Amy Stone

To date, Sprint has removed 48,860 yards of material. That’s 18,860 cubic yards more than the contract minimum for six months. And 1,400 cubic yards more than the minimum for July. So you can see that the rate of removal is dipping slightly.

At almost 50,000 cubic yards for 6 months (or 100,000 yards per year), it would take 5 years for Sprint to reach the maximum. However, by contract, Sprint has 36 months. If Sprint continues to average 6,000 cubic yards per month for another 30 months, it would remove a total of 229,000 cubic yards before the end of the contract term ([30×6000]+ 49,000). 

So at some point, Sprint will have to sprint to catch up if they want to remove all 500,00 cubic yards.

Recent Photos Show Growth of Basin

Here’s what the site looked like before and after July’s excavation activity.

End of June
Woodridge Village E&R as of 6/30/22
Excavation at end of June 2022. Note where the upper right boundary of the pit stops relative to the storm-sewer pipes at far right.

End of July

End of July 2022.
Looking south over eastern edge of pond. Newly excavated area is at left (darker dirt).

About E&R Contracts

E&R contracts provide a head start on construction of detention basins before completion of their final design. 

Sprint has agreed to remove up to half a million cubic yards of soil for only $1000. But it makes its money back by selling the soil for a profit on the open market. This provides virtually free excavation to taxpayers and virtually free raw material to Sprint. HCFCD has spent only $230 on the project so far. But the tradeoffs are speed and certainty.

The property above forms the headwaters of Taylor Gully. When HCFCD finishes its Taylor Gully study, things may change.

Final Needs Contingent on Outcome of Taylor Gully Study

HCFCD hired Idcus, Inc. in mid-2021 to develop up to five conceptual alternatives for modifying Taylor Gully. Scenarios may include:

  • Expanding Detention On Woodridge Village so that no channel improvements are necessary.
  • Determining amount of detention and channel improvements necessary to ensure no adverse impact all the way to Lake Houston.
  • Finding the optimum balance between maximum flood protection and minimum construction costs.
Deliverables include:
  • Channel and basin layouts
  • Estimates of benefits for various levels of storms (100-year, etc.)
  • Right-of-way requirements
  • Cost estimates for right-of-way acquisition, engineering and construction management.
  • Performance metrics, i.e., estimated acreage of land inundation, number of structures in floodplain, number of structures flooded and miles of inundated roadway.
  • A scoring matrix to rank alternatives.
The red dots show location of current excavation relative to entire scope of Idcus project, from yellow polygon on left to end of red line in forest on right.

Idcus should be done with the study soon. In the meantime, residents will have to settle for the virtually free head start we get.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/31/2022

1797 Days since Hurricane Harvey

1182 Days since May 7, 2019

1049 Days since TS Imelda