Harris County Approves $825 Million Flood-Mitigation Project List For HUD/GLO Funds

On June 6, 2023, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) recommended to Commissioners Court a flood-mitigation and disaster-relief project list totaling $825 million. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocated the funds to Harris County via the Texas General Land Office (GLO). The projects will require another $145 million in local-match funds from the 2018 Flood Bond. Thus, the projects are worth close to a billion dollars.

Commissioners Court unanimously approved the project list with relatively little discussion. Each precinct will receive a relatively equal amount of projects and funding, according to Commissioner Ramsey.

Two Buckets of Money

The money comes in two buckets: Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds totaling $322.5 million and hazard mitigation funds totaling $502.5 million. HCFCD intends to use both primarily for channel improvements and stormwater-detention-basin projects.

Further, HCFCD has divided its project list into primary and backup recommendations.

Factors Used to Determine Recommendations

HCFCD developed the project list with the following factors in mind:

• Deadline requirements – ability to implement quickly/near shovel ready.
• Low-to-moderate income (LMI) scores
• Prioritization framework ranking
• Social vulnerability index (SVI) scores
• Racial composition. 

HUD normally gives priority to projects that help low-income areas. However, the two buckets have different LMI requirements and deadlines.

HCFCD must spend 100% of the Disaster Relief funds by August 2026. And they must must benefit areas where 70% of the residents qualify as LMI (below the average income for the region).

The Mitigation funds have more time and a 50% LMI requirement. No less than 50% of the $750,000,000 from which the $502.5 is carved must be expended by January 12, 2027, with the full balance expended by January 12, 2032.

So the DR funds have more urgency attached to them and that list includes projects closest to construction.

Reason for Backup Projects

According HCFCD, the project list will likely evolve based on review by GLO, project schedules and project costs. Budgets are estimates based upon today’s dollars. They will change as projects advance. Projects may also develop fatal flaws as they develop. So HCFCD is requesting permission to substitute the alternate projects if others become non-viable.  

1 Recommended, 1 Alternate Project in Lake Houston Area

The “recommended” list includes one primary project in the Lake Houston Area: Taylor Gully Improvements.

It also includes one backup project on the alternate list: the Woodridge Village Stormwater Detention Basin, which is already under construction.

9 Upstream Projects

HCFCD is also recommending nine upstream projects on tributaries that feed into Lake Houston.

Primary recommendations include:

• Upper Cypress Creek Floodplain Preservation
• Part 3 of the Kluge Stormwater Detention Basin on Little Cypress Creek
• Rehabilitation of the Kickerillo Mischer Preserve Channel on Cypress Creek
• Boudreaux Stormwater Detention Basin Part 1 on Willow Creek
• Channel Rehabilitation, Batch 5 on the Main Stem of Cypress Creek
• East and West TC Jester Detention Basins on the Main Stem of Cypress Creek
• Detention for Channel Rehabilitation on the Main Stem of Cypress Creek, Batch 5

Alternate recommendations include:

• Boudreaux Stormwater Detention Basin Phase II on Willow Creek
• Mercer Stormwater Detention Basin on Cypress Creek

Click here to see the full list of projects.

Project Specific Data Available Soon

The project list does not include information on how much these projects would contribute to flood reduction – either locally or downstream. However, HCFCD expects to post that information to its website before the projects go to the GLO for approval.

Partnership Gap Affected

Likewise, HCFCD did not include with this list an estimate of how much it would affect the partner funding gap.

Some time ago, HCFCD projected that it could finish all the projects in the flood bond using a combination of:

• Taxpayer approved funds
• Partner funds already committed
• Harris County Toll Road Authority used to fund the Flood Resilience Trust.

But to finish all the projects in the Flood Bond, HCFCD “phased” some projects. It knew it wouldn’t have enough money to complete 100% of some large projects. So, several phases might have been included and others deferred.

It appears that some projects on today’s list include some deferred phases. So the “partner funding gap” may not be reduced as much as we originally thought. Net: HCFCD may or may not have to look for additional funds. They expect they will know more after GLO approves the list.

HCFCD must also come back to Commissioners Court by July 18 with an estimate for ongoing maintenance and land management costs for all the projects.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/6/2023

2107 Days since Hurricane Harvey

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