The official name of the drainage project which is planned for portions of Alba, Golf and Sue Barnett is the Shepherd Forest Garden Oaks Storm Water Drainage Project.

The choice of the project's name has been the source of considerable confusion on the part of residents who saw the Public Works Presentation in January of 2014. Drainage improvement conjures up an image of large pipes being connected to ever larger pipes downstream with the intent of removing constrictions to the movement of water. This is NOT what this project does. This project will place huge pipes under three streets in Garden Oaks; Alba, Golf and Sue Barnett for the purpose of "IN-LINE DETENTION". The idea is to move water which currently ponds on streets to the north of Garden Oaks into pipes under Garden Oaks.

A quick note on what is meant by huge pipes.... the pipe in the photo above is approximately 5' by 6' judging from the size of the man operating the lift. The pipes used in Garden Oaks will be twice as tall and three times wider or 14' by 10'!

Download the Public Works Presentation made to the Civic Club in January 2014.

Following on to the Public Works presentation the Civic Club formed the ad hoc Alba Drainage committee to gather information and make recommendations back to the Civic Club. Motions were made, votes were taken and letters written. I am not the person to record this history and will jump over some detail to two key meetings with Councilmember Ellen Cohen but not before noting that several attempts were made to contact Public Works to set up technical meetings to no avail. The first meeting with CM Cohen was delayed until June 6, 2014. We were told that the project was going to happen and that Garden Oaks could expect flexibility on the number of sidewalks. The Garden Oaks representatives present made a strong appeal for further consideration of alternatives which would minimize the impact of the City Standard. For those of you who have not heard, the City Standard for Residential Streets is:

  • 27' wide curb to curb
  • guttered
  • sidewalks 5' in width on both sides of street

For a street like Golf which has an 18' width of pavement, this represents an 85% increase in impermeable surface. The biggest landowner in Garden Oaks had a stated policy to nearly double their impervious surface area!

The first meeting with CM Cohen was closed with the promise that further consideration would be given to other alternatives and we agreed to reconvene. The second meeting occured on 9/16/2014 where we were presented with a couple of alternatives which were the subject of the survey sent out to homeowners.

And our long desired technical meeting has now been booked for November 20. We have a long list of questions which range in topics from why this project here to details about the streetscape and project timing.

This is the project description taken from swmp.org the Houston Storm Water Management Program website.
" Project provides for the design and construction of storm drainage improvements, necessary concrete paving, curbs, sidewalks, driveways and underground utilities. Project will serve the Garden Oaks, Shepherd Forest, Shepherd Park, Candlelight Plaza, Pinemont, and Oak Grove areas. CDP outfall E0247, E0159, E0189, E0403, E0410, and adjacent areas. White Oak watershed. Project will construct storm drainage improvements to address and reduce the risk of structural flooding. Improvements include modification of street conveyance and sheet flow, and provide detention as needed for mitigation.