3 Comment

• MidtownCoog September 21, 2015 at 12:54 pm

  Lakefront Townhome Community Laguna on 1-Acre Plot in Sugar Land! $700K! Have I been on the East Coast that long, or does that sounds like absurdity?
• TheNiche September 22, 2015 at 3:58 am

  Re: houstonunderwater.

  This blogger needs to familiarize himself with his subject matter.

  1) I don’t think that anybody is arguing that the Memorial Day storm was a one-off event. Houston floods. That’s readily acknowledged. Newcomers can buy a house without too much worry by looking at FEMA floodmaps and topographic maps and placing value on homes located in places that don’t readily flood or by bidding down homes that likely do flood. Consumer education is an important part of any solution and thankfully consumers have more information now at their fingertips than at any point in the history of human civilization.

  2) The flooding in terms of damaged structures was relatively localized rather than widespread. Most of those parts of the city that flooded were streets and open areas. Although that poses some inconvenience, that is by design. Say what you will, its a very good and cost-effective design strategy.

  3) The number of properties that are subsidized to any significant degree under the National Flood Control Act in Harris County is surprisingly limited. The Harris County Flood Control District has very aggressively bought most of those structures out and demolished them. Of those that are subsidized, a very small number capture the vast majority of subsidies; those tend to be concentrated in pockets so that its not just particular neighborhoods but along particular sides of particular streets. The Biggert-Waters legislation in 2012 and subsequent Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act will cause these subsidies to burn off over time…which is good policy in my opinion, although it will be severely problematic for those homeowners.

  4) Municipal drainage planning is NOT “nearly non-existant”. You just are not aware of it. It is actually a fairly large bureaucracy with numerous entities being involved. I don’t really know where to begin to inform you that you’re wrong because you’re so completely wrong. Educate yourself and come back with specific policy commentary. There’s plenty to be critical about, if you do, but that criticism ought to be grounded in fact. Maintenance is an issue that doesn’t get talked about much. Clogs are a big deal.

  5) I agree with the premise that stricter regulation doesn’t have to hurt growth, but specific strict regulations that are suboptimal could displace development, weaken the tax base, or drive up costs for consumers. I also agree that the current setup is itself suboptimal and could be improved; however, improvements need to be careful and nuanced or else we may take a step backward rather than forward.
• Local Planner September 23, 2015 at 10:18 am

  Thank you for your post, Niche – all good points that need to be said. However, if I had to guess, I’d wager that the Under Water poster lives in the Frostwood / Bunker Hill Village area and is just taking another avenue to express frustration with MetroNational, the developers of Memorial City and dominant players in the Memorial City TIRZ. Homeowners in that area have had a bone to pick with the company ever since the first office towers went up in the 1980s, and are mindlessly relentless in their opposition to densification in that part of town. Admittedly, some homes in that area did flood on Memorial Day weekend. However, the vast majority of the Memorial City area was already non-permeable, so it’s doubtful that increments of development there have led to additional flooding.