Texas GLO Awards Harvey Funds Directly to Harris County
Funding Intended to Support "Partnership" Projects for HCFCD
On March 18, 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved the Texas General Land Office’s (GLO) amended plan for Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT), which allocates $750 million in funding for Harris County and an additional $488 million to the Houston-Galveston Area Council for additional mitigation projects in the region.
In addition to the $750 direct allocation, HUD awarded $62 million to the City of Houston. There were additional awards of $117 million in CDBG-MIT (Flood Mitigation) awards for Harris County projects, plus $209 million in infrastructure funds from CDBG-DR (Disaster Recovery).
H-GAC plans to award the $488 million for mitigation projects within the greater Houston region. However, neither the City of Houston nor Harris County is eligible for these additional funds.
The GLO came under pressure from Congress and local leaders in 2020, when it announced that Harris County would receive zero dollars of the $1 billion of federal relief funding related to the storm. Harris County requested $1.3 billion for various projects from the first round of Hurricane Harvey relief funds distributed by HUD. Houston and Harris County sustained roughly half the damage Harvey inflicted on Texas, and Congressional representatives argue that the region should, as a consequence, receive half the aid.
Instead, the GLO announced plans in early July to take control of $52 million of Hurricane Harvey disaster funds currently controlled by the City of Houston and move the money into a state-controlled homeowner assistance program. GLO contends that the City of Houston failed to meet its recovery benchmarks needed after the 2017 hurricane.
Federal funding is critical to the successful implementation of Harris County's 2018 bond program.
When the Bond Program was first envisioned, the Flood Control District identified partnerships as a continued, vital source of funding and resources to move initiatives forward. While the bond was for $2.5 billion, the full cost of every project in the bond program as passed by Harris County voters is nearly $5 billion. From the outset, there was an anticipated need for funding partners to fully construct the projects on the list. Without partnership funding, every bond program project has sufficient funding to get started (approximately 10% of the cost) - but not completed, as the partner (in this case HUD) was expected to contribute 90% of the funding.
This is the case for the projects that affect South Mayde Creek - both the detention basins upstream near Grand Parkway and the bypass (see below) planned for Lower South Mayde Creek at Greenhouse Road, There has been little progress on both projects (C-36 and C-46), despite the allocation of funds. The project for Lower South Mayde Creek (C-36) had received a high prioritization rating in the 2018 Bond Program, but is likely being slowed by the planned contribution of a detention basin by Sprint Sand and Clay. The date of this contribution is unknown.
Lower South Mayde Creek Bypass (C-36)
Community Engagement Meeting - November 14, 2019
The “South Mayde Creek Channel Conveyance Improvements and Bypass Channel” (C-36) is made up of two components: (1) a widening and deepening of South Mayde Creek west of the Greenhouse Road bridge, starting at Fry Road; and (2) the construction of a bypass channel on the east side of the Greenhouse Road bridge, extending to Barker Cypress Road.
The purpose of channel expansion west of the Greenhouse Road bridge is to increase the conveyance capacity of South Mayde Creek.
The bypass is an additional waterway that will be constructed east of the Greenhouse Road bridge. The purpose of the bypass is to convey the additional flow of stormwater into the Addicks Reservoir during more severe storm events. The existing channel will continue to convey water during normal rainfalls.
HCFCD recognizes there will be a number of challenges to the bypass, and the final configuration has not been determined. Some of the challenges are:
- The bypass will intersect a channel that flows north-south from Morton Road,
- It will also cross Groeschke Road at the trail entrance to Cullen Park .
- The water volume and velocity when the bypass rejoins South Mayde Creek just before the Barker Cypress Road bridge is uncertain.
- Sediment will be transferred downstream. The Corps of Engineers will require sedimentation basins to be constructed.
The project also includes the construction of two wet bottom detention basins near South Mayde Creek to mitigate the potentially adverse impacts of the channel improvements by temporarily storing excess stormwater - and then slowly draining when channel water levels recede.
It should be underscored that this project is in a preliminary engineering stage, and changes to the design are not unexpected. HCFCD expects to work through the bypass challenges and model alternatives for the next few months. The PER will be completed in the spring of 2020, and properties for the two stormwater detention basins will be acquired. No timeline has been established for the detailed design and construction of the bypass, but detailed engineering for the detention basins is to begin in the summer of 2020. A start date for construction has not been determined.
June 2021 Update
In February 2021, Commissioners Court approved the Preliminary Engineering Report, “Lower South Mayde Creek (U101-00-00) Bypass Channel and Channel Improvements” (September 2020), and authorized the Flood Control District to proceed with detailed engineering plans.
The recommendations of the Halff PER were:
- Short term – fully benched channel conveyance improvements between Fry Road and Greenhouse Road, construction of 2 detention basins (one at the water-filled Katy “Cliffs” at Morton Road, the other at Sprint Sand & Clay’s excavation operation at Fry Road and Franz Road).
- Long-term – a bypass to the natural flow of South Mayde Creek on the east side of the Greenhouse Road bridge, plus a sedimentation basin just west of Westlake MUD No. 1’s sewage treatment facility.
- Replacing the Greenhouse Road bridge was evaluated but was not believed to produce incremental benefits to the channel conveyance improvements and introduced adverse downstream impacts.
Only 10% of the total project cost is to be funded by the bonds authorized by Harris County voters in 2018. The remaining 90% is to be funded by federal or state "partners". To date, HCFCD has not received such funding.
Upper South Mayde Creek Detention Basins (C-46)
Additional Information
This project includes right-of-way acquisition, design and construction of a stormwater detention basin, HCFCD Unit U501-06-00, on South Mayde Creek. Stormwater detention basins reduce flooding risks and damages during heavy rain events by safely storing excess stormwater and slowly releasing it back to the bayou when the threat of flooding has passed.
This project is currently in the PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING stage. This stage of the project will result in a recommended project that can be taken to Harris County Commissioners Court for approval and then advanced to the DESIGN stage.
Addicks Reservoir Channel De-Silt and Repair Program (F-53)
Community Engagement Meeting - October 1, 2020
The Addicks De-Silt Program consists of multiple comprehensive projects to evaluate and de-silt channels for which the District has property rights that drain directly to the Addicks reservoir. In addition, this program will repair impacts, and develop construction and maintenance plans, in coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as appropriate.
The goal of this program is to make sure these channels are functioning at design capacity as they carry stormwater out of surrounding neighborhoods and into the federal reservoir. Rainfall within the 138-square-mile Addicks Reservoir watershed drains along 159 miles of open waterways, including Langham Creek (U100-00-00), South Mayde Creek (U101-00-00), Bear Creek (U102-00-00), Horsepen Creek (U106-00-00), and its tributaries. As a part of the Flood Control District’s overall maintenance operations, this program follows the Tax Day 2016 and Hurricane Harvey storms, which sent record levels of sediment-laden stormwater through the channels leading into the reservoir, and caused severe erosion in some areas.
To learn more about this project and other Flood Control District efforts in the area, please visit www.hcfcd.org/F53.
July 20, 2020 - HCFCD reports that the District has removed over 100,000 cubic yards of silt, sediment, and debris. The largest volume removed was in Langham Creek, with 64,579 tons removed, followed by South Mayde Creek with 32,298 tons (or 3,200 dump trucks) removed. Crews are continuing work on this construction project to remove silt and debris from these 2 creeks, plus Bear Creek and Horsepen Creek to help return these waterways to their original design capacity.
October 3, 2019 - HCFCD held a community engagement meeting is to discuss the rehabilitation of channels upstream of Addicks Reservoir.
Desilting Project - Pilot Project (Completed) and There Packages to be Completed
Bridgewater Drainage Program (E-01)
Community Engagement Meeting - October 8, 2019
Harris County Engineering consultant Pape‐Dawson Engineers, LLC. presented recommended drainage improvements for the Bridgewater Village and Enclave at Bridgewater subdivisions on October 8, 2019 at Loraine T. Golbow Elementary School.
Recommended improvements for the Bridgewater Village and Enclave at Bridgewater subdivisions include a regional wet‐bottom stormwater detention basin to the north of Clay Road and east of Grand Parkway to provide more storage capacity. In addition to the basin, a berm along Clay Road is also proposed to provide further mitigation.
