For many years (40, off and on) I have provided comments for the Houston Sierra Club (Sierra Club) about Clean Water Act Section 404 permits that are regulated and processed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). These are the permits that you hear about occasionally that allow destruction of wetlands if there is avoidance, minimization, and mitigation so there is “No net loss” of wetlands for a development proposal.
Since I have provided comments for the Sierra Club for a long time, I have seen a lot of proposals that do a lot of harm. However, I commented on one in early January 2019 which, if not the worst, certainly would vie, in my view, for that distinction.
The proposal I refer to is permit application No. SWG-2016-00384. The applicant is Romerica Investments, LLC. The proposal is in waters of the United States (U.S.) and wetlands adjacent to the West Fork of the San Jacinto River in Kingwood, Houston, Harris County, Texas. This proposal would fill 42.35 acres of wetlands and 771 linear feet of streams on 331.45 acres.
The proposal consists of a marina/resort district of 107.41 acres which will fill 12.21 acres of wetlands; expand an existing 15-acre lake, associated with the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, into an 80-acre marina with a 640-boat capacity; construct a new navigation channel; expand an existing channel to connect the marina and the West Fork of the San Jacinto River; develop 25 acres into a resort district with commercial and residential development; construct five towers with a height of 90 feet for the western hotel area, 260 feet for the residential condominium towers, and 500 feet for the eastern hotel and condominiums; excavate fill material to raise the elevation of the entire resort district from 45 to 57 feet (13 feet total) above the 100-year floodplain of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.
This proposal would also construct a commercial district of 64.41 acres and fill 0.59 acre of wetlands and 110 linear feet of streams; construct on 47 acres, retail, residential, and office developments; construct three towers that range from 230 to 400 feet tall for retail offices and residential condominium towers; construct a 70-foot tall mid-rise residential and retail development; construct parking garages with two below grade levels and concealed above grade levels; expand an existing 16.25-acre lake to a 19.25 acres and create a marina for personal watercraft parking; create a 125-foot wide interconnecting channel between the 80-acre and 19.25-acre marinas, create a marina/resort district, and a commercial district; excavate fill material to raise the elevation of the entire resort district from 45 to 57 feet (13 feet total) above the 100-year floodplain of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.
It will also construct a residential district of 136.93 acres and fill 28.60 acres of wetlands and 404 linear feet of streams; construct on 64 acres, 65-foot tall condominium structures which are on pier/beam foundations with elevated first floor parking with four stories that will be above the 100-year floodplain of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River; construct on 6-acres, 25-story condominiums with parking garages; place fill in the residential district to raise the structures and elevations to 57 feet above the 100-year floodplain of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River; construct four lakes for a total of 6.75 acres in the western portion of the residential district; construct 1.95 miles of 41-foot wide roadways within a 60-foot wide right of way in the residential district; construct 4-foot and 8-foot wide trails within a 20-foot wide easement around the perimeter of the residential district and use bridges to cross all streams and channels; relocate the existing utility easements that are in the proposed 20-foot pedestrian trail easement.
Finally, the proposal will construct a Woodland Hills Road expansion of 22.7 acres and fill 0.96 acre of wetlands and 257 linear feet of streams and construct Woodland Hills Drive so it is expanded from two to four lanes, has turn lanes, has a raised median for 1.45 miles.
This wetlands destruction, as outlined in a public notice (comment deadline to the Corps ends on January 29th), is proposed but the applicant does not know if it will create its own wetland mitigation project or purchase credits from an approved wetland mitigation bank.
The Sierra Club stated that now that Hurricane Harvey has revealed the full impacts of flooding in our area, before approval of proposals like this one, which are in the 100-year floodplain/floodway, the Corps should require an analysis, using Harvey and other data, about the flood potential and safety of construction in the floodplain/floodway of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and its tributaries, including Bens Branch-Frontal Lake Houston Watershed, which flooded during Hurricane Harvey.
Although the full extent of the 100-year floodplain/floodway of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River in the 331.45 acres proposed for residential, commercial, resort, and marina developments is not stated most of the 300 plus acres appear to be within the 100-year floodplain/floodway. According to the applicant all of the 107.41 acre Marina/Resort District, all of the 64.41 acre Commercial District, the southern portion (we are not told how large this is) of the 136.93 acre Residential District, and most of the 22.7 acre Woodland Hills Road Expansion appear to be in the 100-year floodplain/floodway of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and will have to be filled 13 feet to get above the 100-year floodplain/floodway.
The Sierra Club pointed out that the proposal clearly shows that a floodway goes through the middle of the southern marina, commercial, hotel, and condominium resort district complex near the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and there is a Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) Unit G103-00-00 drainageway that flows just southwest of the boundary of the proposal. In combination with dredged channels, these conduits for flood water will bring more flood water onto the site and help flood the site.
The Sierra Club further stated that these developments do not make sense because they would occur where Hurricane Harvey created some of the worst flooding in the 100-year or greater floodplains/floodways; will displace about 200 acres of 100-year floodplain/floodway which will raise water levels and increase the possibility of flooding for others, both up and downstream; will fill wetlands that are crucial for soaking up water, reducing flows and velocities, and increasing sedimentation of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River in its 100-year floodplain/floodway; is subject to further flooding in the future; and destroys more of the natural beauty, water quality, and wildlife habitat of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.
The Sierra Club told the Corps that it must require the applicant to conduct extensive and detailed hydrology and hydraulic studies of the undeveloped site, the developed site, and their interaction with the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and its tributaries during floods. At least 35 stream segments and 5 lakes/ponds currently exist on the site which are all potential sources of flooding on the site. The analysis should include how the three dredged channels will affect flooding and act as conduits for floodwater to the rest of the site. The applicant provides no documentation from HCFCD or the City of Houston about how much detention and drainage mitigation are needed to keep these proposed developments from flooding themselves or others who live up or downstream.
The entire 335.45 acres is perforated with stream segments and lakes/ponds. There are at least 5 lakes on the property and 35 stream segments. These waterbodies will flood during the climate change induced intense rainfalls that have become common in the Kingwood area. The site is like swiss cheese and is pock-marked with lakes/ponds, stream segments, and 73 separate wetlands on the 335.45 acres. The water-holding, slowing down, soaking in, and evaporation capacity of 49 of these wetlands will be totally or partially filled due to the proposal. Remnants of these wetlands will be less able to handle floodwaters and will be impacted by operation and maintenance actions and activities that create erosion and sedimentation and reduce their flood mitigation capacity over time.
The Sierra Club stated that there is no operation and maintenance dredging plan for the site; the wetland mitigation plan should be available to the public; wetlands or streams left after construction of proposed developments will be impacted by these developments; much of the site is a Palmetto-Hardwood bottomland forest or a bottomland flatwoods forest; upland buffer zones are needed to protect onsite wetlands; the proposal violates Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines; project information has not been verified; Bald Eagle habitat is at risk; expansion of Woodland Hills will destroy existing entranceways to Barrington Kingwood and Deer Cove Trail Subdivisions; an existing sidewalk that goes from Deer Ridge Park north on Woodland Hills Road will be destroyed; part of River Grove and Deer Ridge Parks will be paved over; the connection to Hamblen Road by Woodland Hills Road is in an area that flooded during Hurricane Harvey; increased traffic and speed of traffic will affect residents, students, and park users and could result in more injuries, deaths, damage to property, and roadkill.
The Sierra Club believes that wetlands mitigation for the proposal should be 10:1 which would result in an over 400-hundred-acre mitigation project. Of the 87.177 total acres of wetlands on the site, 42.349 acres (48.58%) will be destroyed.
Ultimately the Sierra Club supports the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposal. The Sierra Club requested a public hearing with all surrounding businesses, residential areas (Trailwood Village Subdivision, Kingwood Lakes Village Subdivision, Clubs of Kingwood, Barrington Subdivision, and Kingwood Lakes South Community Association), churches (Kingwood United Methodist Church), schools, parks (Deer Ridge and River Grove Parks, and other entities that may be affected by the proposal, up or downstream, contacted.
Stay tuned! Hopefully the local public can find out about, understand, attend a public hearing, and review and provide public comments on this terrible proposal.