Builder tactics under scrutiny
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/HoustonChronicle/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=HHC%2F2018%2F04%2F08&entity=Ar00119&sk=BBE72049&mode=text...The location, adjacent to the Grand Parkway, was ideal. The fine public schools in Katy ISD would be a big draw for families. The topography, though, was a problem: Three flood plains crossed parts of the property.
Developers prefer to avoid the regulations involved in building in flood plains, and prospective buyers are leery of the risks and requirements to buy flood insurance. To overcome these obstacles, Newland turned to a well-established procedure: The company decided to raise homes above the flood plain with dirt, or fill, excavated from other areas of the site.
While the use of fill for this purpose is not uncommon in the Houston area, some experts say it’s questionable — particularly at a time when long-held assumptions about flood resilience are being re-examined in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
“The big problem in the Houston area is, you start using fill, you can fill so much that there’s no storage left,†said Larry Larson, director emeritus of the Association of State Floodplain Managers.
Harris County requires developers to offset fill by creating an equivalent amount of water storage, typically through on-site detention. Such rules reduce adverse impacts but don’t eliminate them, Larson said.
Jim Blackburn, a Houston lawyer and Rice University professor who has emerged as a leading voice in discussions about protecting the Houston region from catastrophic floods, said the use of fill to lift property out of flood plains is “legal, but arguably unethical. It sends the wrong message,†creating a perception of safety from flooding that may not be justified.
Ted Nelson, the president and chief operating officer for New-land Communities’ west region, said engineers hired by the company provided assurances that using fill to elevate lots, along with other steps to ensure good drainage, would provide a high level of flood protection.
“We had the ability to do this all within the site that we were considering purchasing,†Nelson said. “The soils there were good; we could use them for fill dirt. The system actually slows down the release of that floodwater into the Addicks Reservoir.â€...
...The Houston area has experienced three 500-year floods — events with a 0.2 percent chance of occurring in any given year — since 2015. And a recent Houston Chronicle analysis found that almost three-quarters of the 204,000 Harris County homes and apartment buildings damaged by Harvey were outside the 100-year flood plain....
