CITY & COUNTY
Top city & county stories to watch in 2023
2023 ANNUAL COMMUNITY GUIDE
Houston approves new tax zone, expansions HOUSTON At the Dec. 14 Houston City Council meeting, council members approved an expansion of one Montrose-area tax increment reinvestment zone and the creation of a new zone covering the Texas Medical Center. BY LEAH FOREMAN Medical Center, spoke at the meeting about how he fears the people of Houston could be cut o from the medical center when ooding occurs. Mayor Sylvester Turner noted the Medical Center area is the rst TIRZ created under his term and proba- bly the last. Turner is expected to appoint seven board members to the new TIRZ sometime in early 2023. The TIRZ has an initial lifespan of 30 years.
FEMA ood map, MAAPnext release expected in 2023
Houston invests in heavy trash cleanup
OTHER STORIES TO FOLLOW IN 2023 THE 2022 BOND PACKAGE All three propositions were approved Nov. 8. More details on bond projects are expected in 2023.
FLOOD MAPS: FROM MODELING TO ADOPTION The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Harris County Flood Control District have been working on concurrent ood mapping projects for Harris County. MAAPNEXT PROJECT (completed) Work on HCFCD's Modeling, Assessment and Awareness Project begins. 2019 The HCFCD reports being 70% done with ood plain maps, projecting FEMA will release preliminary maps in spring or summer 2022. May 2021 Jan. 25, 2022 The HCFCD reports being 96% done with its work and shifts its projection for FEMA’s map release to summer or fall 2022. Feb. 22, 2022 The HCFCD says it has sent mapping data to FEMA. FEMA expects to release preliminary ood insurance rate maps, or FIRMs, in 2023, at which point the MAAPnext dashboard goes live. HCFCD and FEMA will hold open houses. 2023 RELEASE OF PRELIMINARY MAPS 18-24-month period after release: • Residents have 90 days to provide feedback on the FIRMs, which may be revised before being nalized. • Communities have six months to adopt or amend ood plain ordinances based on the new FIRMs. SOURCES: HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT
BY SHAWN ARRAJJ
BY RACHEL CARLTON
HOUSTON Thecityof Houston will begin a new e ort in 2023 to conduct weekly cleanups of litter and illegal dumpsites following action taken at a Dec. 14 Houston City Council meeting. The move is being made as the city is being investigated by the U.S. Depart- ment of Justice over allegations that its response to illegal dumping complaints is slower in communities of color in a way that amounts to discrimination and the violation of the civil rights of the people who live in those communities. The city has denied those allegations, and the investigation is ongoing. The city will use $1.3 million in Amer- ican Rescue Plan Act funds to conduct the cleanups through the Solid Waste Management Department. Other contracts are expected to come before the council in 2023 related to the installation of cameras to catch illegal dumpers in the act as well as the hiring of code enforcement o cers.
HARRIS COUNTY The Federal Emergency Management Agency will release Harris County’s preliminary ood insurance rate maps sometime in 2023, according to Harris County Flood Control District o cials. The HCFCD projected in a May 2021 update that FEMA would release the maps in the spring or summer of 2022, but has continually pushed back its estimate. FEMA o cials could not con rm a speci c release date. Local ood control entities partner with FEMA to provide information for those maps, which show ood risk and mandate ood insurance in high-risk areas. HCFCD Planning Division Director Ataul Hannan said FEMA’s maps have not been updated countywide since 2007. Work on the countywide update began in 2019 with the advent of the Modeling, Assessment and Awareness Project, or MAAPnext, which uses updated rainfall and topographic data to create comprehensive maps and ood risk tools that residents will be able to access with an online dashboard. O cials said MAAPnext’s dashboard will complement the release of FEMA’s maps. A process will then begin to revise the maps before they become o cial in late 2024 or 2025. Early in that process, residents will have 90 days to comment on the maps, and communities will have to adopt or amend their ood plain management ordinances.
Proposition A Proposition C
Proposition B
The Medical Center zone covers 1,332 acres and will allow for the repair of public infrastructure, including water retention for the area and parking and transit solutions at the nearby Hermann Park. Once a TIRZ is established, the tax revenue generated within its boundaries on new development goes into a separate fund that can be used for improvements in the area. William McKeon, the president and CEO of the Texas
$100M for public safety facilities
Meanwhile, the council also approved an expansion to TIRZ 3—also known as the Market Square TIRZ—pri- marily for stormwater retention plans. At the Dec. 14 meeting, the council also approved TIRZ expansions in the Fifth Ward, Southwest Houston, Hardy/Northside and Harrisburg.
$1.2B TOTAL
$200M for parks
for roads, drainage and multimodal transportation $900M
R I C H
Market Square TIRZ annexation
Texas Medical Center TIRZ
TRACKING TIRZS A new tax increment reinvestment zone in Houston will cater to the Texas Medical Center area, while a TIRZ expansion in Montrose could bring stormwater retention improvements.
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY OFFICE OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATION COMMUNITY IMPACT
M
Harris County to initiate work on projects for $1.2B bond package The Harris County Engineering Department is working with the O ce of County Administration to develop an implementation strategy and process for bond projects from the $1.2 billion in bonds approved by voters Nov. 8. Some projects will be bid and assigned in 2023.
BUFFALO BAYOU PARK
HERMANN PARK
TEMPLE DR.
UNIVERSITY BLVD.
ALLEN PKWY.
288
W. HOLCOMBE BLVD. HOLCOMBE BLVD.
90
S. BRAESWOOD BLVD.
WALKER AVE.
610
BUFFALO SPEEDWAY
SOURCE: CITY OF HOUSTON COMMUNITY IMPACT
W. DALLAS ST.
N
N
MEYERLAND PLAZA MALL
BRAYS BAYOU
S. POST OAK RD.
HOUSTON SUPERSTORE 2410 Smith Street (713) 526-8787
WESTCOTT AND MEMORIAL 5818 Memorial Dr (713) 861-4161
SHEPHERD 1900 S Shepherd (713) 529-4849
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
HEIGHTS RIVER OAKS MONTROSE EDITION • JANUARY 2023
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