The project is needed, and the alternative make sense, but only if the additional funds can be found. Delaying the project due to lack of funding with the new option is not a benefit to the community

How about getting the extra money by slapping a hefty tax on developers that pour concrete that causes more runoff?...

i think i see a turd from kingwood in that pic

I got an extra nickel around here somewhere
🤔

@EddyFree : They already make the developers pay fees like crazy. Also that fee would be past down to the home buyer anyways. The developers have to build to the County and Cities requirements already. So if you really look at it, the City and County set the requirements to develop land. I now that some may cut corners or ask the engineer to push the line but it comes down to the engineering on the development. During Harvey I had 6 homes out of about 200 homes get water in the garage in 3 sections I had worked on along spring creek. A different engineering firm did a few of the sections next to the ones we did. They did not do as well as we did. They had about 60 homes flood with up to 3 feet of water in the home. Both firms designed to meet the County and City requirements but we tend to design to a more conservative way of thinking. Most people do not know that the storm sewer is only required to flow the 2yr storm and the 100yr storm is design to sheet flow down the street and then into the detention pond. That is the cause of street flooding. The county allows 18" of ponding in the street. As a company we try to hold to 9" of ponding. The developers have to set aside more land today for detention then they did before Harvey. Before Harvey we had to detain like .55 acft per acre, today we are doing about .75acft per acre. For those that don't know what acft is. For .55 it is 1 acre of land with .55' of water on it, so just over 1/2 foot of water. Today we are storing 3/4 of a foot of water for every acre of land developed. A subdivision that is 500 acres, the detention pond has to hold 375acft of water and slowly discharged.

@KRAM :Fair enough....Tax the NEW home buyer or property owner to make up for it as it's their extra run off.....For those of us who purchased homes years ago and have already paid for the drainage improvements back then, and are paying taxes for the maintenance/upkeep of those still, why should we pay for MORE upgrades just because someone else is increasing run off with their development?....

Just open the gates sooner

@EddyFree : That is what they are doing. The extra drainage requirements is costing the developers more land today than a subdivision built 10 years ago. They are spending more money on building larger detention ponds. So for a 500 acre subdivision the new requirements is costing the developer money in loss of lot sales so that is passed on to the new home buyers. That is just the difference between today and the rules before Harvey. I am working a standalone subdivision that is 30 acres. 5 ac of that is detention. 25 years ago that detention pond would have been 1.25 ac at the same depth as the 5ac one today. That is a loss of 36 lots (starter homes on small lots). So less roads and fewer homes=more green space.

@KRAM :So are you saying the "Lake Houston Dam Project" requesting additional funding won't be seeking those funds from taxpayers but will be getting them from "new project" developers/property owners?

@EddyFree : No. They are paying more to develop their own land. Now the City of Houston has a drainage tax already to help with drainage projects.
One problem no one thinks about is water sheds. Lake Houston has many water sheds that drain to it. One is Luce Bayou and it flow from Liberty County to the Lake. Liberty County does not have the drainage requirements Harris County does. So more water flows at a faster rate down Luce Bayou today then 10 years ago. There is a development that drains into Luce Bayou that is way more than 5,000 acres with no detention. They cut large drainage channels to move the water to the bayou as fast as it can. I hunted on part of this land 10 years ago and after a rain it would take 3 to 4 days for water to drain off at one of my stands. After they cut the channels it would drain in one day. All that water impacts lake Houston.