Imperial Estates is a former development the city bought out due to it being flood prone. So far, 116,000 truckloads of dirt have been moved at the site to allow the city and Galveston County Consolidated Drainage District to terrace the site to mitigate flooding, Deputy Engineering Director Samantha Haritos said.
Haritos estimated the 116,000 loads equate to 800 acre-feet. By August, she hopes the city can use a drone to determine how many actual acre-feet of dirt was moved, she said.
Friendswood received $3.4 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program funds from the Texas General Land Office to create a detention basin in the Forest Bend subdivision. The pond will be 53 acre-feet, and construction will begin in July, Haritos said.
So far, the city is on the hook to pay $25,000 for the project. That could increase if projects go over budget, she said.
“Likely these will come in higher than what the grant was for,” City Manager Morad Kabiri said. “They will be paid for with either fund balance or drainage bond dollars.”
Another project is to relocate a utility rack over Clear Creek. A $1.2 million grant will pay for that project as well. The project will go to bid by the end of June, and eight months of construction will begin in the summer, Haritos said.
Frenchman’s Creek is an area of the city with five townhomes close to Clear Creek. The city is acquiring the two properties closest to the creek, and Galveston County is acquiring the remaining three. The city has been given $2.69 million in grant monies to fund such acquisition projects.
Right now, the acquisitions are at the appraisal stage. In about four weeks, the city will know how much it will have to pay to acquire the properties, Haritos said.
Speaking of acquisitions, Haritos mentioned the city recently used flood control bond funds to buy 30 Clearview Ave., Friendswood, a 5.46-acre property, for $423,000. GCCDD plans to terrace the flood-prone property along with others in the area, Haritos said.
