[PAA-Discuss] [codepinkhouston] Sierra Club Houston opposes Houston Charter Amendment ...

[Juli3 at aol.com]

FYI.  From the Houston Sierra  Club.
Madeleine Crozat-W
Press Release in opposition to  Houston Charter Amendment Proposition 1 
The Sierra Club Houston Region Group  leadership has voted to oppose the 
City Charter Amendment Proposition One,  which would create a program funded 
by Houston property owners to “improve  drainage” and avoid flooding through 
unidentified Houston drainage and street  projects. 
Like Mayor Parker and previous Mayors  White and Brown, the Houston Sierra 
Club recognizes both drainage and flooding  during hard rain events as a 
serious problem requiring ongoing  attention.  We do not oppose the concept of 
a dedicated fund to  address drainage and flooding problems common in 
Houston, but Proposition 1’s  approach is ill-defined and of questionable value.
Proposition One does not address the relationship between the City of 
Houston (COH) and the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD).  The 
proposition does not delineate a plan coordinating street and other drainage with 
the HCFCD’s regional detention system and bayou capacity.  Houston property 
owners already pay property tax assessments each year to the HCFCD to provide 
drainage (which is already operated on a pay-as-you-go basis), and therefore 
this is a duplicate tax. We will be setting up a duplicate system in which 
property owners pay to two separate managers who have not coordinated their 
actions.
The COH handles drainage permits for city streets and building in the city. 
 The County, with review by HCFCD, issues permits for the county outside 
city limits.  However, the HCFCD controls the connection to the bayous.  The 
COH has no control over flood control with respect to the bayous.  The HCFCD 
determines the amount of water that is allowed to flow into the bayou.  That 
is because the HCFCD has responsibility for not moving the flood into a 
downstream area.  It is also against state law to move storm water from one 
area and flood another neighborhood downstream.  And even if the COH planned to 
build detention ponds, the location must be determined according to 
watershed modeling per HCFCD models,

 since water releases from detention would eventually be fed into the 
bayous.  
The Sierra Club of Houston believes that Houston City government has 
neglected its responsibility to its citizens by granting drainage provision 
waivers to developments.  Developers do not pay an adequate acreage assessment to 
HCFCD to build regional water detention.  The COH must require developers to 
address drainage and storm water containment through environmentally sound 
and cost-effective low impact developments. Such development deficiencies 
should be addressed before city property owners are asked to pay for financing 
for remediation.  Green approaches to storm water management include open 
space detention ponds and other green runoff technologies.  These are 
preferable to traditional storm water techniques which would be use

d by the City's Public Works Department to remediate drainage and storm 
water problems.  For instance, for the past several years, the COH has been 
turning city streets into retention ponds.  And this causes the flooding 
(destruction) of automobiles.)  
Therefore, the Sierra Club of Houston strongly recommends that the City 
must improve its contractual approaches with developers to include requirements 
for low impact drainage and storm water containment.  In the case of the 
WalMart in the Heights area, hard earned tax monies are being paid to attract 
developers, rather than demanding from them more cost-effective green 
drainage solutions that would benefit the taxpayers.  
Finally, we oppose the approach taken  for securing funding via this City 
Charter Amendment Proposition One prior to  detailing the storm water 
containment strategies.  Good  urban planning requires first the plan, with public 
input, then  the implementation program/timeline and then, and only then, 
the  funding methodology.  The proponents are putting the cart  before the 
horse, and we urge our City government to go back and rework the  process 
before coming to Houstonians for essentially a blank  check.  
Jim Williams,  Chairperson of the Houston Group, said, “Proposition One is 
essentially a  blank check for huge, unnamed programs using untold tons of 
Portland cement  for street and drainage projects which will have unintended  
consequences.”
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