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Arthur Storey Park Stormwater Detention Basin Receives H-GAC Regional Excellence Award
February 20, 2007
The Arthur Storey Park Stormwater Detention Basin, part of the Brays Bayou Flood Damage Reduction Project (Project Brays), has won a regional excellence award for best practices for parks and natural areas from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. The project serves two valuable purposes in Harris County: reducing flooding risks and simultaneously serving as a stellar park with state-of-the-art recreational features. In the third most populous county in America, this approximately $50 million stormwater detention basin, has become a fun and functional stretch of green space in sprawling suburbia. Not only does the District's uniquely-designed basin spare many residents from flooding, a partnership with the Harris County Precinct 3 has provided recreational components such as trails, ponds and even a Tai Chi court. Complementing these features are natural amenities, including a vast grove of trees and wetlands that attract roseate spoonbills, egrets, songbirds and other migratory waterfowl. The site has become a shining example of how government partnerships not only protect the public, but improve quality of life.
Community Values, Partnership Key to Success
When planning the project, the District worked hard to keep community and natural values - an integral part of its mission and that of the Houston-Galveston Area Council - a priority. In other words, preservation and enhancement of the environment and surrounding community were key elements in the process. The project began in the 1990s with the acquisition of 220 acres of land to be preserved and modified for reducing flood risks. The District designed a project to construct multiple, in-ground compartments to hold 1.2 billion gallons of stormwater to reduce chances of Brays Bayou from topping its banks during times of heavy rain. Each compartment contains water-loving plants comprising a wetlands habitat. Prompted by a partnership with Harris County Precinct 3 that envisioned the site doubling as a park, the District used a landscape architect to design the basin with park features in mind. This design allowed acres of trees to be preserved, providing an ideal place for picnic tables, park benches and a playground. It also made space for hike-and-bike trails, gazebos, a duck pond, and Tai-Chi court, catering to the surrounding Asian community.
Project Involves Significant Environmental Considerations
Creating this site involved many aspects of best management practices. Respecting the environment was a priority. Roughly 25 acres of trees were preserved near the center of the site, leaving hundreds of oak trees for birds that have long made the area home. As construction of the stormwater detention basin comes to an end this year, the District has plans to plant roughly 10,000 more trees throughout the site, improving air quality. Furthermore, the basin's compartments were designed to have "wet bottoms" or-mini lakes containing wetlands plants such as reeds and cattails. These plants filter pollutants and sediment from stormwater, allowing it to return to the bayou in a cleaner state. In the middle of the wet bottom basins are small islands that provide a safe haven for ducks and other waterfowl.
Part of a Massive Flood Damage Reduction Project
The purpose of the stormwater detention basin is to temporarily store stormwater during times of heavy rain when water in nearby Brays Bayou approaches the top of the bayou's banks. The basin contains a weir that allows water in the bayou to spill into the basin. The basin is part of a larger, $450 million effort of the District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called Project Brays, which is expected to remove the 1% (100-year) floodplain from 30,000 homes in the Brays bayou watershed. However, because the basin site comprises a vast amount of land, the endless possibilities of such scarce greenspace quickly made the site's purpose two-fold, and a recreational component was born. Visitors to site may be taken aback by the strange topography and functional aspects of the basin's deep compartments, but there is no mistaking the fun. Children play on swings and slides and chase ducks swimming in a shaded pond in front of a large gazebo. Joggers can be seen exercising along trails that parallel the bayou. And, early in the morning, a small group of dedicated individuals come to practice Tai-Chi under the large limbs of towering oaks. In fact, the site has attracted countless species of migratory birds and aquatic creatures and is an ideal place for bird-watching.
Partnership With Harris County Precinct 3 is Model For Collaboration
For all of the flood protection and recreational amenities the site provides, perhaps its most unique feature is how it came to be. As development becomes more widespread, the price of acreage in Harris County continues to rise, making it difficult for public entities to buy land to build projects and parks. With a multi-use project in mind, Arthur Storey, the former director of the District, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack entered into a model collaboration effort, creating an ideal prototype for projects that serve more than one purpose. Pairing flood damage reduction projects with parks and much-needed greenspace not only saves taxpayers money, it efficiently uses land and provides citizens with practical and recreational benefits. Because of the success of the site, other entities, namely the City of Houston and other county precincts, have approached the District about using its land for parks during times of dry weather. In some instances, inter-local agreements have been signed and similar multi-use projects are on the way.
Establishing the Standard for Multi-use Projects
Of the many parks in Houston and Harris County, this particular site has become a crown jewel in an area covered with concrete and known for burgeoning development. Aside from its functional and recreational features and the partnership that brought them to life, this site has changed the way the District approaches its design of stormwater detention basins. Realizing the value of multi-use projects, the District now designs stormwater detention basins keeping in mind the potential for recreational features to come, whenever possible. Many basins are designed to resemble natural lakes rather than symmetrical holes in the ground. One basin, The Hill at Sims Greenway, even has a 60-foot tall hill. Others have been planted with thousands of trees, turning basin sites into ideal places to cool off in the summer heat. The Arthur Storey Park site began a trend in Harris County that may very well have revolutionized the way flood damage reduction projects and parks are built, increasing the quality of life for all residents.
> Learn more about the Arthur Storey Park Stormwater Detention Basin
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