Sugar Land City Council voted to approve a $1.9 million construction contract focused on drainage improvements in the Greatwood Village neighborhood at its Oct. 19 meeting.

Jorge Alba, Sugar Land’s senior engineering manager, said the investment in the Greatwood Village drainage improvement project is in a response to flooding that took place in May 2019.

“If you remember, during the May 7, 2019, event, Greatwood received more than 13 inches of rain in a period of nine hours,” Alba said. “It was realized that one of those sites were more severely affected; they experienced extreme street ponding and several homes received structural flooding during the storm event.”

According to a presentation given to the City Council at the Oct. 19 meeting, the improvements will address the street ponding and structural flooding issues. City officials said it will target existing structural flooding by designing and implementing drainage improvements in areas east of Crabb River Road, north of Sansbury Boulevard, west of Greatwood Parkway and south of the Fort Bend County Levee Improvement District No. 11 Middle Bayou.

“This construction project will involve modifying the storm drainage outfall into the LID 11 Middle Bayou, replacing storm sewer lines, reconstructing concrete roadway and replacing inlets,” Sugar Land City Engineer Jessie Li said.

The scope of work for the project will include:

• Removing and replacing 36 existing inlets and reinforced concrete pipes as needed to tie into the existing storm sewer system throughout the Greatwood Village neighborhood;
• Installing 16 new storm sewer inlets, manholes, junction boxes and 3,055 feet of reinforced concrete pipe starting downstream on Alderwood Drive, Millwood Drive, Honeysuckle Lane, Cypress Village Drive, Laurel Drive, Berrytree Lane and Morningside Drive;
• Modifying the outfall into LID 11 Middle Bayou;
• Replacing street concrete pavement and curbs damaged during the previously mentioned installation of the storm sewer system;
• Adjusting or replacing any sanitary sewer service lines, water service lines, meters or clean-outs as needed to accommodate the proposed storm sewer; and
• Abandoning or removing existing pipe and manholes of the replaced storm sewer lines.

According to the presentation, the project is likely to impede driveway access, mail delivery and trash pickup. It could also interrupt water services to the area, as well as cause road closures.

The project is part of the general obligation bond passed by voters in November of 2019, which totaled $90.76 million. Of that, more than $47 million was approved for drainage improvements—such as the Greatwood project. The city opened the project to bid on Sept. 16 and received six qualified bids. The original engineering cost estimate for the project was $2.2 million and the selected bid of $1.9 million came from Houston-based J Rivas Construction, LLC.

In total, the project is expected to cost $2,038,199—with $1,894,357 going toward construction costs, $49,194 going toward materials testing, and a 5% contingency fund of $94,718. The city had $2,750,000 set aside for the project from the 2019 bond, and any remaining funds will be used for other upcoming drainage projects being funded through the bond.

“This project addresses a need identified by our residents and demonstrates our commitment to deliver projects approved by voters in the 2019 bond election,” Li said.

According to city documents, the projects included in the bond propositions were chosen based on extensive planning through various master plans, as well as City Council input and the results of citizen satisfaction surveys—which indicated drainage, public safety and mobility as the top three resident priorities.

"I'd like to thank staff for the quick work you did to get this into the 2019 G.O. bond package," Council Member Carol McCutcheon said. "That was quick work."

According to the presentation, the city will also update residents during construction—including the use of door hangers, electronic signage, homeowners association notifications and face-to-face meetings with city staff. There will also be a Greatwood Village homeowners association meeting in November that will address project questions and concerns.

"Between this, and what we have going on at Chimneystone and Settlers Park, we've now dealt with almost all of the structural flooding that we've experienced in the city of Sugar Land," Mayor Joe Zimmerman said, referring to both Hurricane Harvey and the Sugar Land flood event of May 2019.

City officials said the Greatwood project is expected to begin in November and should be finished by October 2022. To sign up for notifications from the city on road closures and service interruptions—from projects like the the Greatwood Village drainage improvement oroject—visit www.sugarlandtx.gov/notifyme.