This is sort of interesting.

Bay Oaks is the elite community association in the Clear Lake area. It has it’s own golf course and country club. Homes can range in the millions of dollars. It’s a nice place to live. I know a number of really nice folks who live there. But Bay Oaks has a brewing flood control controversy much like the Clear Lake area had with the development of Exploration Green. Let’s explore the background in this post. More on the Bay Oaks situation will follow.

Background
In a nutshell. Many years ago the Clear Lake Golf Course, created in the 60’s, was sold to a new owner. Over the next year or so the Course was run down, the club house burnt down, and the owner then wanted to sell it to developers. This would have been prime property for apartments and/or condos. Many in the community petitioned the Clear Lake Water Authority to purchase the land and convert it to water detention facility to address the flooding problems in the area. Eventually they did after a lawsuit that went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. The owner wanted to sell the property to the CLCWA for $25 Million, the value as if sold to a developer. CLCWA successfully argued that the property is under deed restrictions and must remain undeveloped property therefore valued at $5 Million. The Supreme Court agreed and the property was sold to CLCWA.

CLCWA began developing the property for flood control. It required digging huge lakes, cutting down trees, and running trucks through the neighborhood to remove the dirt. That’s what happens when you create lakes. The voters in the CLCWA area approved bonds to take advantage of low interest rates and speed up the development. Within 5 years the entire property, all 5 phases, have been completed.

Exploration Green Conservancy
The CLCWA was only responsible for the flood mitigation aspect of the project. The Conservancy was responsible for raising money, replanting hundreds of trees, creating a 6 mile hike/bike trail around the entire facility, and maintaining the property. In the end it is a great facility providing much needed flood control and a beautiful place for the community. It has received a number of awards. It’s been an incredible success story for the area.

The Opposition
The organization Friends of the Old Golf Course resisted the project. They made many unsubstantiated claims including human waste water flowing through the property from the sewer treatment plant, hundreds of trees being removed, and infestation by mosquitos and other critters. Although some trees, some big ones, were cut down, many were not native trees. The big trees were a loss and unavoidable. It happens as a price of progress but they were replaced with hundreds of new trees by volunteers in the community. The property is now a place for wildlife, joggers, bikers, and others. The many issues brought forward by the opposition were stuck down by the judge and never materialized.

So back to Bay Oaks.
That’s for later. Stay tuned. Until then here is a story by KHOU on Exploration Green.