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Harris County Flood Control District nears biggest spending year yet BY HANNAH ZEDAKER HARRIS COUNTY Three years MAKING PROGRESS
Katy approves $33M for mobility Katy City Council approved $33 million in transportation funding from the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County and Katy Development Authority funds for a series of nine transportation projects at its Jan. 10 meeting. Of the funds, $23.05 million will come from the city’s agreement with METRO, with $10.47 million coming from cash funds. The rst projects will begin in early 2023. Master plans progress Katy city o cials are working to adopt multiple planning documents in 2022, such as a master parks plan and an updated comprehensive plan. The new comprehensive plan will replace the existing document, which was drawn up in 2001. The new plan will act as a development guide for the next 20 years. O cials said they are looking to adopt a master parks plan in the fall. Boardwalk plans continue At a Jan. 13 State of the City event hosted by the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce, city o cials said the Katy Boardwalk District has continued progressing throughout the pandemic. In 2021, Boardwalk Lofts—the residential element of the project— opened, with a second complex set to start in the summer. The development’s hotel and convention center is still in the design phase. Other developments include the 110- acre Katy Court Planned Development District, which will house commercial and residential lots when complete.
Since Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast in 2017 and Harris County voters passed a $2.5 billion ood bond referendum in 2018, the Harris County Flood Control District has: Initiated 181 of 181 projects, 19 of which are complete
after work began on projects outlined in the Harris County Flood Control District’s $2.5 billion bond program, Deputy Executive Director Matt Zeve said 2022 may be the district’s biggest spending year in its history. “We had a 10-year plan, and the way things are mapping out, …we should be done with pretty much everything by early 2029,” Zeve said. “But the vast majority of our spending is happening now.” A majority of that spending will come from completing three federal ood damage reduction projects this year along Brays, Hunting and White Oak bayous—each of which costs more than $100 million, Zeve said. In addition to those projects, HCFCD o cials will submit preliminary ood plain maps in late January to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will issue the preliminary ood insurance rate map in the summer. Brian Edmondson, project manager for HCFCD’s Modeling, Assessment and Awareness Project, or MAAPnext, said the new rates could take e ect in 2024. The nearly $30 million e ort, which began in January 2019, will be the rst time the entire county’s ood plain has been remapped since 2001. In mid-December, HCFCD o cials also completed the Phase 2 feasibility study of constructing an underground tunnel in Harris County to divert oodwaters, Zeve said. However, the results will not be released to the public until sometime in 2022.
Received $1.35 billion in partnership funding Completed 667 buyouts with 645 additional buyouts in process
Authorized $578 million in bond funds
In 2022, Harris County residents can look forward to the following accomplishments by the Harris County Flood Control District: LOOKINGAHEAD
Completion of Brays, Hunting and White Oak bayou federal ood damage reduction projects
Public release of Phase 2 ood tunnel feasibility study
Public release of preliminary ood insurance rate map
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
debt the county can take on. “Even if we had $100 billion instead of $2.5 billion, we can only go so fast at a time,” Zeve said. “We would love to have all that money because then we’d know we can do what we need to do. But all of our projects take a certain amount of time.” With or without another bond, Zeve said the HCFCD’s budget needs will continue to grow to pay o bond debt and maintain new infrastructure. “Every time we build a new project, we have to take care of it, and every time we have to take care of it, that costs more money,” he said. As of mid-December, the county administrator’s o ce was still searching for a new HCFCD executive director. Alan Black will continue to serve in this capacity in the interim.
“We briefed all of the members of Commissioners Court on the results of that study and we got a wide variety of reactions,” Zeve said. “Because of that, we’re not in a place where we can release the results of the tunnel study just yet.” Future projects Outside of the 2018 bond program, the HCFCD received $250 million from FEMA in December to fund sediment removal across eight watersheds over the next ve years. In 2021, HCFCD o cials also com- pleted 10 watershed planning studies, which identi ed new projects. While Zeve said some elected county o - cials have mentioned the possibility of a second ood bond program, that will depend upon howmuch more
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KATY EDITION • JANUARY 2022
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