In today’s Chronicle, Mike Snyder looks at the effect of the city’s floodplain ordinance that prohibits construction on vacant land that sits in a floodplain:
The ordinance, adopted unanimously by the City Council on Aug. 30, 2006, affects almost 10,000 developed or vacant properties around the city, including nearly 2,400 single-family houses.
It has triggered at least five lawsuits in the past few months by Norcini and other property owners who say the city is essentially taking their property — robbing it of most of its value — without providing compensation.
“This is one of the greatest land takings in the history of Texas,” said Norcini, 48, an oil company engineer whose lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
The growing revolt against the ordinance illustrates the painful choices public officials face as they struggle to craft policies that effectively manage the impact of development on flood hazards in one of the nation’s most flood-prone metropolitan areas.
[snip]
A few months after the ordinance was approved, city officials began getting phone calls from residents of Shady Acres, a 100-year-old neighborhood off T.C. Jester just inside Loop 610 near White Oak Bayou.
These residents were gradually learning not only that their property was now in the floodway, but that the city had adopted rules prohibiting new construction or expansion of buildings in the floodway.
What comes next is just typical of how the city operates:
Nancy Wilcox, another Shady Acres resident whose home is in the floodway along with her mother’s nearby house, said the city should have explored other options to help reduce flooding risks.
“Instead of taking my property and my mother’s property as a last resort, it was a first resort,” she told the council’s flooding and drainage committee on Sept. 20. “It is wrong to sacrifice a few thousand people.”
[snip]
Councilman Adrian Garcia, whose district includes Shady Acres, said during the Sept. 20 committee meeting that council members didn’t get enough information about the measure’s impact before they voted on it.
“Why didn’t we let folks know in advance that we were going to be going down this track?” Garcia asked. “Everybody has reared up because a lot of people were caught by surprise. At council, we had almost no discussion on this.“
Garcia also noted that many property owners whose land is now in the floodway have rarely, if ever, experienced serious flooding.
“How do we justify the restrictions on property that since (Tropical Storm) Allison, have never been flooded, but are currently under the restrictions?” Garcia asked. “How do we justify that?”
Because that’s how things happen in Houston: The city imposes the most punitive actions as a first resort, instead of exploring alternatives. Think $AFEclear, and red light cameras, to name just a couple of examples.
And then Councilman Garcia complains that council wasn’t given enough information. Well, why in the heck is council passing these laws, if councilmembers don’t know what’s going on?
It’s stunning.
MORE: In the forum, Neal Meyer notes that he wrote about this on his blog back in June. It’s very interesting reading.
