Pearland - Friendswood Edition | January 2022

TOP STORY

Around Pearland and Friendswood there are several drainage projects that have incorporated a secondary use on top of just holding water and reducing ooding, and there are several that are scheduled to break ground or are being planned in 2022.

Existing facilities/trails

2022 projects

Planned projects

EXISTING FACILITIES 1 SASSER PARK 2 HICKORY SLOUGH SPORTSPLEX (EXPANSION COMING 2024) 3 JOHN HARGROVE

521

HUGHES RD.

MCHARD RD.

ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEX OTHER PROJECTS

1959

MCHARD RD.

PEARLAND PKWY.

4 CLEAR CREEK TRAIL EXPANSION When completed, the trail will go from 4A FM 521 to Dixie Farm Road. Two parts of it have been completed: the 4B Shadow Creek Ranch trail in December 2020 and the 4C Green Tee trail in February 2020. A portion from 4D Hughes Road to the University of Houston Clear Lake-Pearland is expected to start in 2022. Cost: $3.97 million (so far) Timeline: 2019-TBD Funding sources: city of Pearland, Texas Department of Transportation, Harris County Flood Control District, federal funds 5 FM 1959 DETENTION BASIN Preliminary modeling data from Friendswood shows the area next to FM 1959, or Dixie Farm Road, between Lott Avenue and Clear Creek could benet from a quarter-foot reduction in ood level once completed. Cost: $30 million-38 million Timeline: TBD Funding sources: Friendswood, HCFCD, federal funds 6 FOREST BEND PARK DETENTION BASIN The stormwater detention basin will provide a 53 acre-foot pond to divert and hold water for future projects in Friendswood. It will also improve the park’s existing trails. Cost: $3.1 million Timeline: rst half of 2022-2023 Funding source: Texas General Land Oce

CLEAR CREEK

A D W

518

WALNUT ST.

FRIENDSWOOD

MAGNOLIA PKWY.

288

EY AVE.

2351

528

MAP NOT TO SCALE N

SOURCES: CITY OF PEARLAND, CITY OF FRIENDSWOODCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

improving recreation in the city. Friendswood’s Forest project along FM 528—or East Parkwood Drive—between Townes Road and Clear Creek will help with future ood-reduction projects within the city limits, Arias said. The project is still in its engineering phase, he added, but is expected to begin in the rst six months of 2022 and take a year to complete. Friendswood is working with a consultant to determine the viability of diverting water from other areas to Forest Bend, which once complete can help with other eorts such as a terracing project near the former public works facility on Deepwood Drive, where Clear Creek and Cowart Creek converge, Arias said. “This mitigation must be in place before other types of ood-control projects may come online to mitigate any potential downstream impacts by those projects,” Arias said. Bend Park detention basin The $3.1 million Forest Bend detention project is funded primar- ily by a Community Development Block Grant the city received from the Texas General Land Oce, Arias said. As a part of the project, Friend- swood will also improve, expand and add lighting to existing trails in For- est Bend Park, Arias added. Meanwhile, early modeling for Friendswood’s FM 1959, or Dixie Farm Road, detention basin project shows the area between Lott Avenue

and Clear Creek, which includes a neighborhood, could see as much as a quarter of a foot decrease in ood level, Arias said. Like with the Forest Bend project, a signicant benet to the project is that it is needed to set up future ood-control projects, he added. Friendswood and Harris County Flood Control District bonds as well as American Rescue Plan funding are all sources that have been consid- ered for the proposed project; how- ever, Harris County Commissioners Court could also potentially commit funds for the project, Arias said. The project could cost up to $38 million, he said. Pearland projects For projects that incorporate recre- ational and green spaces in Pearland, the city is working on two projects that will not be completed within 2022, but the process for them is already underway. The city is looking at expanding the Hickory Slough detention pond, which is located at the Hickory Slough Sportsplex on Hughes Ranch Road. The project is expected to n- ish design in 2023 and begin con- struction in 2024, Epperson said. It is solely funded by 2019 general obli- gation bonds and is expected to cost $4.24 million, he added. The Hickory Slough Sportsplex itself features a 153-acre detention pond that also serves as six soccer

elds when they are not lled with stormwater, which is a dual purpose Pearland values, Epperson said. “We’re always looking for dual purposes,” Epperson said. The John Hargrove Environmental Complex located on Magnolia Park- way is an example of the dual-pur- pose use Pearland seeks with some of its projects. The 85-acre land includes the Delores Fenwick Nature Center, a recycling center, waste- water treatment plant and 2 miles of trails around two large detention ponds, said Cullen Ondracek, natu- ral resources manager for Pearland’s Parks and Recreation Department. The city of Pearland, through the Pearland Economic Development Corp., has also collaborated on the Clear Creek Trail project with dier- ent organizations. Pearland is mainly focusing on the recreational aspect along Clear Creek within its boundaries, mainly creat- ing a 21-mile trail that will eventu- ally stretch from FM 521—or Almeda Road—on the west side of town to Dixie Farm Road on the east. On the drainage side, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allocated $295 million for drainage improvements in the Clear Creek Watershed in 2018, which includes HCFCD's Clear Creek Federal Project near Pearland. The drainage work by HCFCD includes making improvements along 15.1 miles on Clear Creek from Hwy. 288 to Dixie Farm Road, adding

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project, which does not yet have a denitive timeline, Friendswood Direc- tor of Engineering Jildardo Arias said. “These types of projects will primar- ily be used for ood control,” he said. “The addition of recreational amenities are done on a case-by-case basis and depend on the availability of funds.” Friendswood ood control Friendswood will work on one project in 2022 that incorporates

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