The LHRA funds its budget through property tax revenue collected in Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 10 in Kingwood. Projects funded in FY 2020-21 include the Kingwood Drive at Willow Terrace intersection improvements, the Northpark Drive Overpass Project, the Northpark Drive Reconstruction Project and the Kingwood Drive at Woodland Hills Drive intersection reconstruction. Some of the projects funded in FY 2020-21 have funds appropriated in future fiscal years as well.
Woodland Hills Drive, Kingwood Drive intersection project
At the May 14 meeting, LHRA officials discussed allocating an additional $10 million to the Woodland Hills and Kingwood Drive intersection project to tackle drainage issues. However, LHRA and TIRZ Administrator Ralph De Leon said at the June 11 meeting that instead the project will be broken into different projects to allow financial assistance from other entities.
The Kingwood Drive and Woodland Hills Drive intersection reconstruction project will cost $3.81 million. LHRA officials broke the remaining drainage work into two budget items: secondary drainage mitigation projects for $2.58 million and primary drainage mitigation projects for $6.77 million.
The Harris County Flood Control District has also committed to matching LHRA funds for at least one drainage project, De Leon said. He said the district has currently agree to match LHRA's $3.38 million for drainage projects; however, De Leon said he hopes the district will agree to match $5.8 million to help fund the remaining portion of the project.
"If you guys want to do a project on your own standalone, you can," he said. "If flood control is amenable to a larger matching grant, ... then we can sort of tuck this into the bigger project."
Kingwood Area Drainage Analysis update
The Kingwood Area Drainage Analysis, a $700,000 study of the capacity of Kingwood’s channels, began last September. Project Manager William Conlan provided an update on the study at the June 11 meeting.
Conlan said the study is identifying the channel capacity of every channel in Kingwood to see if the channels can handle a 100-year storm event.
“The last phase we’re in right now is identifying what the projects are, identifying what the needs are and then starting to develop the recommendations for future improvement projects,” he said.
Gary Bezemek, feasibility studies department manager at Harris County Flood Control District, said after the study is presented to the public, community members will have the opportunity to weigh in on which projects should move forward. Bezemek said project funding and construction will still need to be discussed.
