[PAA-Discuss] FW: [codepinkhouston] Sierra Club Houston opposes HoustonCharter Amendment ...

[Lee Loe]

FYI. Important. Lee

  _____  

From: discuss-bounces at paa-tx.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at paa-tx.org] On
Behalf Of Juli3 at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 9:37 AM
To: discuss at paa-tx.org
Subject: [PAA-Discuss] [codepinkhouston] Sierra Club Houston opposes
HoustonCharter Amendment ...


 

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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