ReduceFlooding.com published an analysis on Thursday, October 2, arguing that the proposed Scarborough development illustrates why the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group’s new draft recommendations matter. The site identifies 14 of the group’s 36 draft recommendations as bearing directly on the project, among them building code updates, expanded county regulatory authority, conservation easements, finished-floor elevation standards and the creation of a regional flood authority.
Scarborough is a proposed 5,300-acre development upstream of Lake Houston, at the confluence of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, Spring Creek, Cypress Creek and Turkey Creek. The site lies almost entirely in floodway and floodplain, and spans both the City of Houston’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and unincorporated Montgomery County. Because the four streams that meet there drain into Lake Houston, the project has been a standing concern for Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita residents downstream.
Lake Houston Today reported in September that the Harris County Flood Task Force voted to oppose the Scarborough development, and covered the flood planning group’s 36 draft recommendations for the next state flood plan on October 1.
