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Harris County Flood Control District nears biggest spending year yet
Magnolia economic development projects approved
BY HANNAH ZEDAKER
MAKING PROGRESS
HARRIS COUNTY Three years 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 next 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.
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
BY CHANDLER FRANCE
Received $1.35 billion in partnership funding Completed 667 buyouts with 645 additional buyouts in process
MAGNOLIA City Council approved multiple projects from the Magnolia 4A and 4B economic development corporations for 2022 during its meeting Dec. 14. Projects include the implemen- tation of a facade grant program, a monument signage plan, updated security systems and trash cans for Unity Park, and expanded sanitary sewage along FM 1774, according to the project list presented to council. The facade programwill pro- vide about seven $5,000 grants for businesses seeking to make improvements to their facades, signage or structure of their building, according to the list. The monument signage plan will cost $35,000 to implement monuments, city limit signs and welcome stations throughout the city. Expanding sewage infra- structure along the southern part of FM 1774 to Friendship Drive will cost approximately $200,000, the project list shows. Other projects include $10,000 to develop the city’s website and repairing the city’s LED sign at City Hall, which was funded in 2011, the project list said. Director of Economic Develop- ment Rachel Steele said residents can expect survey crews to begin work in January or February.
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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