Cy-Fair - Jersey Village Edition | October 2025

Government

BY MELISSA ENAJE & JESSICA SHORTEN

Harris County restructures 2018 bond funding At the Sept. 18 court meeting, HCFCD Executive Director Christina Petersen addressed commissioners regarding a restructuring of priority projects on the 2018 bond list after a $1 billion shortfall in funding for projects was identied. Under the restructure, the shortfall was reduced to $400 million, a number commissioners believe they will be able to acquire through local, state and federal partnerships and grants. “We’ve taken the 2018 bond program, which started out really with a lot of concepts, and with the work that we have done together, with [Commissioners Court] teams, with all of you, with the direction that we’ve received and we’ve been able to ground this work in reality,” Petersen said. Petersen also debuted a new ood bond dashboard displaying ood project schedules, funding sources, completion dates, prioritization scores, locations and lifecycles. The dashboard will be updated quarterly, according to Petersen. During a Sept. 22 meeting hosted by Houston Stronger, a nonprot that advocates for ood resiliency projects, Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said over $1.78 billion in private, local, state and federal partnership funding has been committed to projects on the bond list. Ramsey commended work done by the county and HCFCD to nd high-priority projects to provide the most immediate ood relief. “We made a really good executive decision,” Ramsey said. “Let’s not budget now on something we know so little about. Let’s take that money, go spend it on something we do know [will provide ood mitigation/prevention].”

Updated ood mitigation projects

The approved ood mitigation projects build upon the completion of more than 100 projects Harris County sta have undertaken with HCFCD since the 2018 bond approval, including: 16,000+ acre feet of stormwater detention constructed in the county, such as Zube Park stormwater basins 46,000+ linear feet of channel conveyance improvements 3,100+ people relocated from home buyouts 5,800 acres of land acquired and preserved

Active projects

Paused projects

249

290

LITTLE CYPRESS CREEK

KATY HOCKLEY RD.

99 TOLL

CYPRESS CREEK

E S S

• Cost: $16.37 million • Estimated construction start: 2026 Paused projects 5 Schiel Stormwater Detention Basin Improvements • Project stage: Planning • Original bond allocation: $16 million • Remaining bond allocation: $6.1 million 6 Hegar Stormwater Detention Basin Improvements • Project stage: Planning • Original bond allocation: $11.8 million • Remaining bond allocation: $8.84 million 7 Mason Stormwater Detention Basin Improvements • Project stage: Engineering

Active projects

1 Little Cypress Creek Frontier Project • Project stage: Planning/property acquisition along entire creek • Cost: $53.12 million • Estimated construction start: N/A 2 Mueschke East Stormwater Detention Basin Improvements • Project stage: Planning • Cost: $15.9 million • Estimated construction start: 2033 3 Kluge Stormwater Detention Basin • Project stage: Engineering • Cost: $37.25 million • Estimated construction start: 2026 4 Kolbe Drive Drainage Improvements • Project stage: Engineering

S. KOLBE DR.

• Original bond allocation: $13 million • Remaining bond allocation: $10.28 million 8 Mueschke West Stormwater Detention Basin Improvements • Project stage: Planning • Original bond allocation: $10.6 million • Remaining bond allocation: $8.59 million 9 Telge Road Stormwater Detention Basin • Project stage: Planning • Original bond allocation: $1 million • Remaining bond allocation: $1 million

SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICTCOMMUNITY IMPACT

Stay tuned

“We’re glad to see that the investments are still moving forward,” Steinberg said. “Things have gotten more expensive. We have to work with that … we’re glad to see what [HCFCD] has put together, an idea of moving forward, a prioritization of, ‘How do we make that next step?’”

“We hope to continue that federal interest so that we can get the appropriation we need to continue making progress,” Briones said. Houston Stronger Chair Alan Steinberg said the organization is looking forward to helping foster continued input from public and private partners.

Despite having to place a pause on projects, Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones said during the Sept. 22 town hall that commissioners were actively working with the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as state and federal legislators, to facilitate additional funding.

CYFAIR JERSEY VILLAGE EDITION