Engineering work is about to begin on a major levee that would extend for miles, beginning near Richmond city limits, running east around the River Park and Greatwood neighborhoods and ending near the tiny community of Booth along Thompsons Road.
The levee would protect the Fort Bend County Jail and about 40 acres of county land on Ransom Road in Richmond.
It also would protect and make hundreds of acres suitable for development, including farmland owned by the Wessendorff family, the George Ranch Foundation and the Booth family.
County Commissioners Court is set to vote Tuesday on whether to provide $300,000 for design of what’s being called the West Levee System Project, which would pay for an initial engineering study to determine the new levee’s location, County Judge Bob Hebert said Friday.
The official vehicle for overseeing financing, building and maintaining the levee was put in place last month, when Commissioners Court appointed Gary Pochyla, Charles Hearder and Linda Ann Wolfe Jacks to serve on the board of Levee Improvement District #6.
Pochyla, who was named board president, said last week LID #6 already existed on paper, but never had become active. Hebert said the LID was created years ago in preparation for development of about 80 acres along U.S. 59 near the Williams Way exit west of the Grand Parkway. That development never occurred, and the LID’s controller was willing to transfer the entity.
Generally, when a LID is formed in Fort Bend County, property is annexed into it and property owners vote on a plan for financing construction – usually by issuing bonds – of a levee whose purpose is to protect against floodwaters from the Brazos River and creeks flowing into it. Property owners then are assessed LID taxes to pay off the bonds.
In the case of LID #6, the proposed levee likely would provide flood protection to several existing subdivisions, including the new Fountains at Jane Long Farm, River Park and River Park West, and Greatwood, which already has a levee in place.
But Hebert said owners of the large tracts of land within what would become LID #6′s boundaries probably will exempt homeowners in existing subdivisions from LID taxes. That also would simplify an election process needed to obtain approval for issuing bonds to build the levee.
“Common sense tells me to just let them have a free ride,” Hebert said of individual homeowners in the proposed levee district.
The big new LID would encompass portions of LIDs 10 and 11, and Municipal Utility District #21 via interlocal agreements, Hebert said. “By doing that we will save millions of dollars.”
The county also will save millions of dollars by agreeing to fund the initial engineering study on Tuesday, and by making a $3 million capital contribution to the new LID, he added.
Otherwise, according to estimates Hebert’s office has obtained, it would cost about $7.1 million for the county to build a separate levee to protect the jail and 40 acres officials say likely could become the site of a new courthouse annex building.
Tying the county property into the new LID “is sort of a no-brainer,” Hebert said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Stavinoha said Monday morning he’s not yet convinced that’s the case. If the county’s 40 acres becomes a courthouse annex, he said the site could be built up like the new jail tower will be – to put the building above the flood plain. If the old jail floods, “we’re self-insured, so what if we get under water at the jail?”
“I’ve got to see a feasibility study on this thing. I have to get more information before I can vote yes on $3 million,” Stavinoha said. “I’ve got a problem with the $3 million investment – where do we show the benefit of spending that kind of money?
Several county and city officials and private developers have said they believe new federal flood plain maps – expected to be complete by January – will show a higher Brazos River flood plain level than currently. That would imply existing levees may not be high enough to provide required protection.
But the LID #6 levee would be built to new federal standards, assuming the flood plain is adjusted upwards.
“If what I understand is true, the savings for Greatwood will be in the millions of dollars,” Hebert said. “The total savings to the area, if all the engineering assumptions are correct – it’s like $47 million vs. $19 million. A lot of homes will be taken out of the flood plain.”
He said the big levee project would have “little if any impact to anybody else on the river… The important fact is to realize that nobody is changing the elevation” of the Brazos River at flood stage. “That is what it is.”
The levee would protect the Fort Bend County Jail and about 40 acres of county land on Ransom Road in Richmond.
It also would protect and make hundreds of acres suitable for development, including farmland owned by the Wessendorff family, the George Ranch Foundation and the Booth family.
County Commissioners Court is set to vote Tuesday on whether to provide $300,000 for design of what’s being called the West Levee System Project, which would pay for an initial engineering study to determine the new levee’s location, County Judge Bob Hebert said Friday.
