What does a TIRZ do for residents?
Organization works to help protect neighborhoods from flooding
Ifind it unfortunate that Cynthia Neely (commentary on Page A2, April 18) is fighting so hard against Memorial City TIRZ 17, the organization that is doing more to protect her home from flooding than any other.
To be clear, TIRZ 17 does not tax area residents. The boundaries of TIRZ 17 currently include only commercial properties and not any singlefamily residences.
Also, TIRZ 17 has added 50 acre-feet of stormwater detention to benefit the area in the last two years and will add 100 more acre-feet in the next three years — this volume is equivalent to a 15-story building the width and length of a football field. This stormwater detention will dramatically help single-family residences located adjacent to TIRZ 17, including Neely’s home.
The residential developments around TIRZ 17 were constructed before the city and county governments within Harris County adopted modern detention requirements. The TIRZ is facilitating agreements and financing between developers and the city of Houston, so drainage projects are being placed on commercial land to save residential property that cannot save itself. Parking lots can contribute to run-off and drainage problems.
Working with developers to reduce parking lot cover, meet required parking minimums and improve drainage will benefit the surrounding residences.
With attractive developments like CityCentre within TIRZ 17, it is difficult to remember the old Town & Country Mall and the sagging sales tax revenue that it generated. And that is the point of TIRZes — to revitalize commercial properties before they begin to negatively impact nearby residences.
Due to the city of Houston Revenue Cap, TIRZ 17 collects revenue that the city of Houston would not be able to collect. These revenues are the reason the city is currently able to pay for flood control projects to protect adjacent homes without raising taxes on local residents.
If TIRZ 17 did not exist and did not have a good relationship with local developers, such flood control projects would likely be years, and maybe more floods, away. Nearby homes would not be nearly as desirable and in greater danger of flooding.
Far from bringing “taxation without representation,” TIRZes are providing remediation in the midst of misinformation. A number of anti-TIRZ bills introduced this session, such as HB 4046 and SB 650, would create a much bigger mess than they purport to correct.
Many people, including Neely, fail to see the benefits TIRZes provide and would destroy those benefits just as they are being put into place. Augustus “Auggie” Campbell is president and CEO of the West Houston Association, a nonprofit organization that advocates for quality, sustainable development in Greater West Houston. He is a former assistant city attorney for the city of Houston and a U.S. Army veteran of the Iraq war.