CITY & COUNTY
Top city & county stories to watch in 2023
2023 ANNUAL COMMUNITY GUIDE
Harris County looks to initiate work on projects from $1.2B bond referendum
Updated ood maps expected in 2023
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 the Harris County Flood Control District have been working on concurrent ood mapping projects for Harris County. MAAPNEXT PROJECT (completed) Work on the 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
White Oak Bayou ood mitigation e orts to resume in January BY DANICA LLOYD O cials with the Harris County Flood Control District announced Dec. 2 work will soon resume on a project designed to improve channel conveyance on a 15-mile stretch of White Oak Bayou. The project was temporarily put on hold when the contractor previously assigned to the project declared bankruptcy. A construction company was selected Nov. 29 to complete the segment from FM 1960 to Hollister Road, o cials said, and work is expected to begin in early January within a 420- day contract. Construction for this segment began in fall 2020. The ood control district is expected to advertise the segment from Hollister Road to Cole Creek in early 2023. In the meantime, the HCFCD will oversee mowing and illegal disposal issues at the property. Trails will remain closed in these areas until construction is complete, o cials said. For the latest updates, visit www.hcfcd.org.
BY RACHEL CARLTON
HCFCD bond passed in 2018. HCFCD Executive Director Tina Petersen said the project is helping produce di erent maps than what is available nationally from FEMA. “What the residents will get [with MAAP- next] is comprehensive ood plain modeling as well as a suite of ood risk tools … to inform their understanding of their risks,” she said. Hannan said MAAPnext uses updated rainfall and topographic data to create more comprehensive maps than the ones available in recent years. He said previous ood events, such as Hurricane Harvey, have shown more than 60% of the ooding was outside the ood plain. “It’s not a regulatory map [designating] 100-year or 300-year [ ood zones], but we are showing the local ooding [not] from an insur- ance point of view,” Hannan said. 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. After a 90-day public comment period, communities will adopt or amend their ood plain management ordinances.
Proposition A Proposition C
Proposition B
BY RACHEL CARLTON
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. In a May 2021 Harris County Commissioners Court update, the HCFCD projected FEMA would release maps in the spring or summer of 2022 but has continually pushed back its estimate. FEMA o cials could not con rm a release date. Federal law requires FEMA to assess if ood maps need to be revised or updated at least every ve years. Local ood control entities provide information for those maps, which show ood risk and mandate the purchase of ood insurance in high-risk areas. HCFCD Planning Division Director Ataul Hannan said FEMA’s ood maps have not been updated countywide since 2007, but several of the areas making up the maps have changed due to the completion of HCFCD projects. Work on the countywide update began in 2019 with the advent of the Modeling, Assessment and Awareness Project, or MAAPnext, which is funded by FEMA grants and the $2.5 billion
bond projects, and he anticipates a “busy year” in 2023. “Projects will be bid and assigned [in 2023]. We’re preparing for that to begin to happen in the coming months, [and] within the next few months we’ll all know more about the process, including opportunities for public engagement,” Apple told Community Impact . Projects will be presented to Com- missioners Court for approval.
HARRIS COUNTY Voters gave the go-ahead Nov. 8 on three Harris County bond propositions totaling $1.2 billion for public safety facilities, roads and parks. Carl Apple, director of communi- cations for the county’s engineering department, said his department is working with the O ce of County Administration to develop an imple- mentation strategy and process for
$100M for public safety facilities
$1.2B TOTAL
$200M for parks
for roads, drainage and multimodal transportation $900M
for FEMA’s map release to summer or fall 2022. Feb. 22, 2022 The HCFCD says it has sent mapping data to FEMA.
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY OFFICE OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATION COMMUNITY IMPACT
RELEASE OF PRELIMINARY MAPS
Jersey Village continues discussions on potential baseball stadium
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 2023, at which point the MAAPnext dashboard goes live. The HCFCD and FEMA will hold open houses. 2023 FEMA expects to release preliminary ood insurance rate maps, or FIRMs, in
BY DANICA LLOYD
The city signed a nonbinding letter of intent with real estate advisory rm KHJR in early 2022. This rm plans to develop the land with a 4,500-seat baseball stadium, a new City Hall, multifamily housing, retail and hotel space, and family entertainment. KHJR Partner Chris
Kay said the rst phase could be completed as early as 2025. City Manager Austin Bleess said at build-out, the development would increase the city’s tax base with an annual $1.3 million in property tax revenue, $160,272 from sales tax and $148,803 in hotel occupancy tax.
JERSEY VILLAGE Many residents of Jersey Village expressed concerns at a Dec. 5 town hall regarding plans for the city’s Tax Increment Reinvest- ment Zone No. 2—the future site of a mixed-use development at Jones Road south of Hwy. 290.
HUFFMEISTER 8945 Hwy 6 N (281) 859-5879 SPRING CYPRESS 22508 Hwy 249 (281) 379-7383
BARKER CYPRESS 17996 FM 529 (281) 656-4200 JONES ROAD 17414 NW Fwy (713) 983-8827
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