CITY&COUNTY
Updates on important issues facing local entities
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OTHER STORIES TO FOLLOWIN2022
TOP CITY & COUNTY STORIES TO WATCH IN 2022
Harris County Flood Control District nears biggest spending year yet BY HANNAH ZEDAKER HARRIS COUNTY Three years MAKING PROGRESS
Pending lawsuits, county redistricting transitions to be complete in March Following the 2020 decennial census, the Lake Houston area may reside within an entirely new Harris County commissioner precinct by late March. In a 3-2 vote, Harris County commissioners selected a new boundary map for the county’s four commissioner precincts Oct. 28. County ocials said the deadline to transition responsibility is not until Jan. 1, 2023, but commissioners agreed Nov. 9 to complete the transition by March 31. This plan has drawn criticism from Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle, as much of Precinct 3 is now considered Precinct 4 and vice versa. Both voted against the proposal and have joined a lawsuit against the county over the redistricting results. A court hearing was held on whether to grant a temporary restraining order preventing Harris County from implementing the map Nov. 29, but the attempt was not successful. Cagle said the goal is to get the lawsuit before the Texas Supreme Court by early January.
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 ocials 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 eect in 2024. The nearly $30 million eort, 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 ocials 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 DISTRICTCOMMUNITY 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 oce was still searching for a new HCFCD executive director. Alan Black will continue to serve in this capacity in the interim.
manager’s powers and relationship to City Council, and changes granting the City Council power to x the compensation of mayor and council and to plan and provide neighborhood projects. The proposed amendments also recommend allowing the city auditor additional time to prepare the city’s annual audit, requiring the city manager to submit the city’s proposed budget sooner; and establishing a periodic citizens review of the charter. “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 ocials also com- pleted 10 watershed planning studies, which identied 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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Harris County commissioners approve $35 million campus for youth transitioning out of foster care Harris County commissioners at a Dec. 14 meeting unanimously approved the construction of a roughly $35 million Houston Alumni and Youth Center campus that will include a 41,000-square-foot, 50- unit residential facility for youth transitioning out of foster care. The approximately 3.3-acre campus, which will be located at 3131 Gulf Freeway near downtown Houston, will also include a 17,000-square-foot commercial facility that will house the HAY Center, a program operated through the Harris County Resources for Children and Adults Department that provides resources and services for youth and young adults exiting the state foster care system. Construction of the new campus is expected to begin in the rst quarter of 2022 and is slated to wrap up by the third quarter of 2023. The project is primarily funded through federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds.
RevisedHumble city charter to go to voters for rst time in 50years BY HANNAH ZEDAKER
Election dates to know The revised charter will be up for election May 7.
HUMBLE For the rst time in more than 50 years, a revised version of Humble’s city charter will be up for election May 7. In November, the Humble City Char- ter Review Commission submitted its nal report recommending changes to the city’s charter, which was last revised in 1970. Among the recommendations were adopting changes related to the city
Last day to apply for a ballot by mail
April 26
Last day to submit mail-in ballot Early voting
May 7
April 25-May 3
SOURCE: TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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LAKE HOUSTON HUMBLE KINGWOOD EDITION • JANUARY 2022
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