The Woodlands Township is developing an action plan in response to resident concerns regarding drainage from an upcoming 572-lot community off FM 1488.
The new community, Del Webb of The Woodlands, is outside of the township’s boundaries. However, The Woodlands owns a 15-foot wooded easement behind the homes that serves as a buffer for the Village of Alden Bridge.
“The concern is that Del Webb drainage may cause water to drain across properties and cause future flooding problems,” township general manager Don Norrell said.
During the May 25 Woodlands Township board of directors meeting, resident David Harlan expressed three concerns regarding the new housing development and its effects on the easement.
“The first issue is new drainage from the Del Webb property into drainage areas owned by The Woodlands, which creates new drainage into the lots of property owners in several subdivisions in The Woodlands,” Harlan said. “These new drainage flows are not allowed under the drainage plan [for the project] that has been filed with the Montgomery County engineer.”
Harlan said the drainage has led to tree damage. Other risks for The Woodlands include standing water, which has created mosquito issues, and elimination of the functionality of the easements for access to utilities and tree removal.
Land clearing from the new development has also raised the elevation of the Del Webb property by about 3 feet, resulting in standing water that raises concern about the viability of the easement to support any new trees that may be planted, Harlan said.
“The land clearing and tree damage has changed the previously forested nature of The Woodlands’ easement, and the higher elevation of adjacent lots resulting from the [land clearing] has created new rear lot privacy issues for residents of The Woodlands,” Harlan said.
Township Director Gordy Bunch brought up additional concerns regarding the project, including the installation of above-ground utilities and a gated, private entrance into the property off Research Forest Drive.
“Nobody’s looking out for maintaining the integrity of the back end of the Alden Bridge community that’s going to be impacted by this,” Bunch said. “Nobody should wake up and find out there’s going to be a massive intrusion behind them.”
Township staff plans to provide an action plan to the board regarding how to move forward with short- and long-term concerns about the Del Webb subdivision.
“We need to put together an action team ... and say, ‘Here are our concerns; how do we work through that?’” township Director Mike Bass said. “We can always get into litigation if it floods downstream, but that’s the last thing we want to end up with.”
