Basin’s capacity not as big as expected

Rebuild will make the Memorial City property into a park, extend street

A project that will rehabilitate a mildewed concrete detention basin to become a park along Interstate 10 in Memorial City may not add as much stormwater detention capacity as expected, the Memorial City Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 17 board learned recently.

The TIRZ has committed to spend $23 million to rebuild the Conrad Sauer basin and extend an east-west street across it to North Gessner through a developer agreement with Lipex Properties LP, a partnership that includes Memorial City developer MetroNational.

MetroNational is developing a 240,000-square-foot office building on an adjacent 18-acre tract located on the northwest corner of Gessner and Interstate 10.

The developer agreement with TIRZ No. 17 allows Lipex to rebuild the basin property as a park and extend Mathewson Lane between Conrad Sauer and North Gessner without competitive bidding and to be reimbursed by the TIRZ. Built to city standards, the improvements ultimately will be owned by the city of Houston.

Some longtime TIRZ No. 17 observers were surprised when the deal was unveiled in April 2014. None had heard

it discussed in prior public meetings, and it was months before a signed agreement was reached. Subsequently, the project is now behind schedule.

In January, project engineers told board the Conrad Sauer basin does not work properly and that the project might double its working capacity from about 32 acre-feet to more than 60 acre-feet.

Residents who live nearby challenged the statements, worrying the city intended to repurpose part of the basin’s existing 62 acre feet capacity to the area’s ongoing redevelopment, including planned reconstruction of North Gessner.

A citizens’ coalition, Residents Against Flooding, advocates delaying the North Gessner project until the TIRZ completes other planned drainage projects, including improvements to county drainage channel W140, also known as Briar Branch Creek.

In the meantime, board members have been exploring other detention options for the region.

The debate over the region’s detention needs has intensified since the recent Memorial Day floods, which appeared to confirm residents’ claims that the Conrad Sauer basin does have more working capacity than project planners said in January.

On Aug. 27, the TIRZ board received preliminary designs of the Conrad Sauer rehabilitation project that show little measurable increase in detention capacity for the basin.

The street extension, however, will add about 12.5 acre feet of additional storage.

Project engineers contend their previous estimates were correct based on city design standards to accommodate a two-year rain event.

TIRZ No. 17 consultants confirm the overall project will consist of 74.5 acre feet.

But board members clearly had hoped for more detention from the publicprivate project to rehabilitate the Conrad Sauer basin and provide a new east-west street off busy Gessner.

“I don’t think anyone is trying to derail the project,” said TIRZ No. 17 board member Brad Freels.

“I think it does a lot for mobility and detention, but we need to be sure we’re spending our dollars properly.”