Time to Create a Chambers County Flood Control District

Opinion by Gloria Way

  Chambers County has issued (issuing) over $224million in new debt without voter approval over the past two years. $175 million is to build the new jail/justice center and $49Million in Certificates of Obligation (CO) to build baseball complexes and road infrastructure. The county is now in the process of issuing $56 million in Certificates of Obligation to pay for “infrastructure and quality of life” projects. Only $4 million is going towards drainage.

  An issue that Chambers County needs to address in a major way is drainage. There is no flood control/drainage department within the county that deals only with flood/drainage issues.

With the certified values of Chambers County ranging from $15Billion to $17Billion, now may be the time to create a county flood control district like the Harris County Flood Control District. The county is growing, more and more concrete is being laid on former rice fields, and there is no plan. Chambers County is said to be the 10^th fastest growing county in the country, the fifth fastest growing county in the state, and one of the top five “richest” counties in the state. Lack of a comprehensive flood/drainage plan is costing residents millions of dollars in damages, not to mention the mental and emotional anguish of having your home and/or business damaged by water and having to rebuild.

  Our county leadership needs to bring a proposal to the people for the creation of a Chambers County Flood Control District. Countless drainage studies have been conducted throughout the county but there is no appointed entity that oversees all the studies in a comprehensive manner.

  With the certified tax value of Chambers County increasing every year, now may be the time to put a Chambers County Flood Control District in place. This is an agency that will benefit every resident and business in the county.           

  After Hurricane Harvey devastated Chambers County in 2017, County Judge Jimmy Sylvia created a countywide drainage committee to identify potential projects that can help ease the flooding problems in the county. Here is a list that was presented to Commissioners Court. You can see the astronomical costs of this “wish” list but at least it can be a starting point from which to develop a comprehensive, strategic plan for drainage for the entire county.

  Here is the list:

  (1) Clearing and Cleaning of Cotton Bayou and Hackberry Gully – $25,000,000.00 in

Pct. 3&4, Chambers County Project

(2) Mayhaw Bayou – $6,000,000.00 in Pct. 1, Trinity Bay Conservation Project

(TBCD)

(3) Spindletop Bayou – $450,000,000.00 in Pct. 1, TxDOT and Chambers County

Project

(4) Dredge West Fork of Double Bayou – $45,500,000.00 in Pct. 2, Chambers Liberty

Counties Navigation District Project (CLCND) and US Army Corp of Engineers

(USACE)

Dredge Cedar Bayou – $250,000,000.00 in Pct. 3&4, USACE and possibly

TxDOT

(5) Desnagging, Clearing and Grubbing of Turtle Bayou – $10,000,000.00 in Pct.

1&2, CLCND and TBCD project

(6) Clearing and Cleaning of Spring Gulley – $7,500,000.00 in Pct. 2, Chambers

County Project                                                              

(7) TBCD Watershed Studies – $10,000,000.00 in Pct. 1&2, Chambers County and

TBCD project

(8) McAdams Ditch – $1,500,000.00 – Pct. 2&3, Chambers County Project.

  There will be another countywide drainage study information meeting on Tuesday, July 30^th, at White’s Park at 6pm. The Seabreeze Beacon will be live streaming on Facebook. On August 13, 2024, there will be a public hearing on the Chambers County Subdivision and Drainage Manual Update. Hopefully, drainage issues in subdivisions will be addressed because as of today, there are a lot of questions among homeowners of new homes in several subdivisions in the county about who oversees drainage in their neighborhoods and streets.

  Drainage improvements are as important a part of infrastructure as roads and bridges. Drainage needs to be considered equally as roads and bridges because flooding due to inadequate drainage can lead to millions of dollars in damage to property and possibly to loss of life. With Chambers County growing by leaps and bounds, our leadership needs to understand that to adequately accommodate such growth, planning for drainage and flood mitigation must be part of the plan.