Mowing bill for buyout lots soars
Countymaintains areaswhere owners sold over flood fears
A grounds crew mowed at 4114 Cypress Grove Lane, careful to trimclose to the trees by the curb. They come by monthly from April through November.
The process may seem odd, as no one has lived here for 16 years. The Harris County Flood Control District purchased the property in 2004 through one of its buyout programs and razed the home that sat on it.
Much of Arbor Oaks, along White Oak Bayou, is well inside the 100-year flood plain. The district wants to dig a detention basin here, and has purchased 269 lots in the past two decades, but a handful of holdouts remain.
As a courtesy to the few remaining residents, the district continues to mow buyout lots it has acquired. Since the county has significantly increased funding for buyouts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey three years ago, its lawn mowing bill has ballooned as well.
The flood control district currently mows 2,562 buyout lots, split between 10 contracts for about $425,000 annually.
Jeff Jowell, the district’s turf management coordinator, said these figures have increased sharply since Harris County voters passed a $2.5 billion flood bond program two years ago, which included $730 million for up to 3,600 buyouts. Through October, 602 had been completed.
“I used to get three, four, five new lots a month,” Jowell said. “Now I’m getting upwards of 30.”
The district reserves buyouts for homes that are so deep in the flood plain no reasonable flood mitigation project can protect them. Homes in many of the 70 buyout zones have flooded repeatedly, trapping homeowners in a dreary cycle of using insurance payouts to repair properties whose market value has plummeted.
The buyout programs offer to purchase homes at their preflood market value and throwin a stipend to help residents relo
cate. The flood control district plans to convertmany of these former neighborhoods into detention basins or other mitigation projects, which protect adjacent anddownstreamsubdivisions. But work cannot begin until land acquisition is complete.
In themeantime, the district demolishes the homes it purchases, re-sods grass when necessary and maintains the lots. In some cases, thesemeans Jowell sends a crewto a new buyout zone to mow less than an acre. At other sites, like the Woodland Trails subdivision on White Oak Bayou, the district mows hundreds of lots.
Mowing per lot is more expensive for the county, Jowell said. It’s also more technical, since crews clean edges with weed trimmers, said Kevin Lougee of Ferrovial Services, which holds one of the buyout lot contracts.
Keeping these lots well-maintained is also a public relations strategy for the flood control district, which is trying to persuade buyout holdouts to accept an offer. The county’s last resort is to seize land via eminent domain, but that process is expensive and can take years in court. Asmall group of obstinate homeowners in the Greens
Bayou subdivision of Castlewood kept the county from completing its buyout program there for more than 15 years.
James Wade, the flood control district’s buyouts manager, said the county tries to balance building goodwill without making too many accommodations to remaining residents. These neighborhoods become dangerous during flood events, and first responders are eager to see homes removed.
“(Maintenance) is something we have to do in order to be a quote unquote ‘ good neighbor,’” Wade said. “But it’s expensive, too. In some instances, you can make the argument that because we’re keeping it so nice and well-kept, we’re almost making it too nice and some people don’t want to move.”
Fred Albarran has livedinArbor Oaks for 50 years. His home has flooded six times; the worst was
Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, which brought 28 inches of water inside. Albarran has yet to accept a buyout offer, though he said he would be interested for the right price and if he was able to find a suitable new home.
His house is the only remaining that abuts Arbor Oak Drive; the district knocked down his next door neighbor’s home earlier this year. The unobstructed view out his front window includes a copse of trees on a freshly cut field that after about 100 yards falls into Vogel Creek.
Albarran said he appreciates that the flood control district mows the neighborhood. He trims the trees and removes rocks to make the crews’ job easier.
“John Lennon had Central Park,” he said, holding his calico cat. “I have this.”