DEVELOPMENT Bay Area drainage projects advancing
CLEAR CREEK CHANNEL IMPROVEMENTS The biggest flood mitigation project in the Bay Area is 15 miles of channel improvements to Clear Creek. The work will run fromHwy. 288 to Dixie Farm Road and include parts of Turkey Creek and Mud Gully. The $295 million project is under design.
projects currently underway in some form or fashion,” he said. Those projects will cost an esti- mated . billion. While voters passed a . billion bond, HCFCD ocials hope they can stretch their dollars and nd partnership funding to complete up to billion worth of projects, Black said. “We’re well on our way,” he said. “We still have a long way to go.” Meanwhile, smaller-scale League City projects are starting up. League City City Council on May unanimously approved three separate agenda items to begin design work on drainage projects in dierent subdivi- sions. Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam will design ood mitigation projects in the Oaks of Clear Creek neighborhood for no more than ,; Dannenbaum Engineering Corp. will design projects to improve drainage in the Bay Colony and Dove Meadows neighborhoods for no more than ,; and LJA Engineering will design drainage proj- ects in the Bay Ridge neighborhood for , or less, according to city documents. The projects are three of the the million worth of bonds will fund. The city started with these three because they are the least likely of all the projects to receive grant funding, League City Engineering Director Chris Sims said. “We’re hopeful we can get million worth of grants,” City Manager John Baumgartner said. The Oaks of Clear Creek project will include improving the in-ground stormwater system and widening a nearby ditch to eliminate street pond- ing during heavy rains.
BY JAKE MAGEE
HARRIS COUNTY
BRAZORIA COUNTY
It has been almost one year since Harris County voters approved a . billion bond to address drainage issues and two months since League City voters approved spending million on local ooding problems. Projects are under design in both Clear Lake and League City, but it could be years before residents see relief. In the Clear Lake area, workers are completing the second of three phases of a -acre stormwater detention basin along Mud Gully just west of the intersection of Beamer and Dixie Farm roads, said Alan Black, the director of operations for the Harris County Flood Control District. The project, budgeted at million, is designed to hold million gallons of water to mitigate area ooding. The area’s biggest project, which was rst proposed in the s and has yet to start, is million worth of channel improvements to Clear Creek. The HCFCD and its federal partner, the Army Corps of Engineers, will oversee about miles of improve- ments to the channel from Dixie Farm Road to Hwy. and miles of improvements to Clear Creek’s trib- utaries, Black said. When complete, an estimated , properties will see ooding relief. The HCFCD in April began selec- tively clearing trees and invasive species along Clear Creek, in part to prepare for the Corps’ massive chan- nel improvements project, Black said. Many projects have not begun because they are still in design or require right of way. The average life cycle for HCFCD projects is three to ve years, Black said. “The big number is that we ... have
GALVESTON COUNTY
PLANNED CHANNEL IMPROVEMENTS
BASIN UNDERWAY
HOUSTON
ARMAND BAYOUWATERSHED
CLEAR CREEK WATERSHED
8
146
MUD GULLY
TURKEY CREEK
CLEAR CREEK
35
288
521
45 3
518
2049
DIXIE FARM RD.
270
518
528
2351
MARY’S CREEK
N
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Baumgartner said. Bay Ridge resident Marika Fuller said during public comment she would like to see projects done quicker. “Let’s give them a little bit of a time crunch,” she said. “If we’re gonna give them ,, they better deliver, and they better deliver fast.” Some council members said they agreed the lengths for design and construction for some projects were too long. “The timetables have got to be con- densed down to as quick as you can get them done,” Mayor Pat Hallisey said. Sta plans within weeks to put together a master timeline for all drainage projects included in the bonds.
“You can’t get down the street in a conventional car,” Baumgartner said. The Bay Colony and Dove Meadows project will include creating a -acre detention basin. The Bay Ridge project will be a combination of solutions, city ocials said. The Oaks of Clear Creek project is expected to be done in months because it requires land acquisition. The Bay Colony and Dove Meadows project will be done in three years because it requires acquiring land and Corps permits. “It’s a signicant time crunch there,” Sims said. “It adds up.” The Bay Ridge work is expected to be complete in months because it requires neither, ocials said. “We try to provide an appropri- ate expectation to the community,”
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