The Houston City Council is set to use $30 million in stormwater funds for new demolition program. (eflon/CC BY 2.0).
The Houston City Council recently approved a $30 million demolition program. Funds for that program were originally meant to address stormwater issues in the city.
On January 7, the Houston City Council agreed to move forward with a demolition program that’s set to use $30 million in stormwater funds to cover the demolishment costs. The decision has left many divided. On one side are those who believe the funds should be used to address the original stormwater issues. On the other side are those who argue that using the funds to demolish abandoned buildings will alleviate the stormwater problems anyway, as some of these buildings reportedly interfere with drainage.
Councilmember Edward Pollard is against the decision. Speaking with KHOU 11, he said, “It is very, very far-fetched to draw [the] conclusion that a property [that] needs to be torn down has to do with the maintenance system.” Mayor John Whitmire disagrees and said that “People are pleading with us to demolish dangerous buildings.” He added that using the stormwater funds for this purpose instead was a legal decision. Councilmember Amy Peck agrees with Mayor Whitmire. “A lot of the debris and illegal dumping going into the systems is causing a lot of concern. So we either spend the money maintaining those systems right around these dangerous buildings constantly or we spend the money on the root cause,” she said.
The idea behind this line of thinking is that abandoned buildings often become illegal dumping grounds, which then leads to drainage ditches throughout Houston becoming filled with trash. If the buildings themselves are gone, this should theoretically stop the cycle and indirectly address the stormwater issue the funds were meant to be used for in the first place. Officials from the Houston Public Works noted that about 2,300 buildings are in line to be demolished across the city, but Houston Public Media pointed out that “an unclear number of them are near stormwater infrastructure — like open ditches or drainage pipes.”
Randy Macchi, the director of the Houston Public Works, said that his department will create a “flow chart” to assist inspectors in determining which buildings will be prioritized for demolition. They’ll review key factors, like whether:
- The building is in an existing drainage-influenced area that has been identified by the Transportation & Drainage Operations team from the Houston Public Works department
- The building is adjacent to outfalls, channels, inlets, or ditches
- There is a severe obstruction to nearby drainage based on loose debris generation or runoff impacts
- The building is within the 100-year or 500-year flood plain
Buildings must meet at least one of these key factors to be demolished using the stormwater funds.
Some council members and the City Controller have expressed concerns over the decision
The stormwater funds were part of a city council budget that was approved in June. In that budget, $25 million was stated to be used “to fund the demolition of dangerous buildings,” which is likely what led to the decision to move forward with this program, despite opposition from select council members and the City Controller. Abbie Kamin is one of the council members who voted against the measure because she had concerns over the legality of this line of thinking and decision-making process. As she told KHOU 11, “We’ve had instances where the city has used other types of flood mitigation funding for other uses, a court has found that was not acceptable.”
Chris Hollins, the City Controller, had similar concerns. Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, he met with the city council and said, “This is not a disagreement about whether blighted and dangerous buildings are a problem in Houston — they are. This is about whether the city is legally permitted to spend $30 million from a restricted stormwater fund to demolish buildings — and the answer is no.” Daena Jones, a member of the Northeast Action Collective, agreed with Hollins. As Jones told Houston Public Media, “If it’s not illegal, it surely is immoral — Because we are flooding and we’re suffering. It’s the constituents who are suffering, not the people that’s making the decision.”
The city attorney’s office noted that using the stormwater funds for this demolition program was deemed legally acceptable. Mayor John Whitmire also believes it to be legal, and said that the inspectors from the public works department who will be assessing the buildings ahead of demolition will be required to document whether doing so will reduce localized flood risk, sediment loading, erosion, or runoff, and if doing so will improve drainage capacity or conveyance.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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