The Harris County Flood Control District is scheduled to report to Commissioners Court on Thursday, October 15 on the status of its Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery and flood mitigation projects, two weeks after the state granted the county an extra year to finish them.
Community Impact reports that Marcus Stuckett, the district’s executive director, is expected to brief the court on those projects at the regular meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. at 1001 Preston Street in Houston and is also carried by livestream.
What the Extension Did
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced on September 28 that the General Land Office had secured a one year extension, approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, covering more than $1.1 billion in Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery and mitigation money allocated to Harris County.
The new deadlines, as described in the General Land Office letter to the county reported by ReduceFlooding, are:
| Program | Old deadline | New deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Flood Control District, disaster recovery (CDBG-DR) | February 28, 2027 | February 28, 2028 |
| Flood Control District, mitigation (CDBG-MIT) | March 31, 2028 | March 31, 2029 |
| Housing and Community Development, mitigation (CDBG-MIT) | August 31, 2027 | August 31, 2028 |
FOX 26 Houston reported that the disaster recovery side covers 11 projects with about $322 million in federal funding at stake, and the mitigation side covers 17 projects worth more than $546 million. County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office confirmed that Harris County accepted the extension.
What the Extension Did Not Do
The extension adds no administrative funding and authorizes no new work. Sub-recipients that hold more than one project, which includes the Flood Control District, have to document the need for an extension project by project. The General Land Office has said there will be no further extensions.
Buckingham’s letter to county officials raised what the office called grave concerns about Harris County repeatedly missing contract spending benchmarks, and said the office would move to reclaim money not spent by the deadline. Marcus Stuckett was appointed to lead the Flood Control District in late June, after former executive director Tina Petersen resigned.
Why This Matters Here
This is the federal money behind a large share of the county’s post-Harvey drainage and detention work, and the San Jacinto River watershed that drains Kingwood, Humble, Atascocita and Huffman is one of the watersheds that program covers. None of the three reports names the individual projects on Thursday’s briefing, so the specific Lake Houston area work in the portfolio is not yet public from a primary source.
Thursday’s agenda also carries a separate Flood Control District request to approve a $5 million Texas Water Development Board grant for Kingwood Diversion Ditch improvements, and a report to the court on the county’s license plate reader cameras.
A scheduled briefing is a status report, not a decision. Commissioners Court has not voted on anything described above.
Background reporting on the extension itself is from ReduceFlooding and FOX 26 Houston.
