Storm of July 6th, 2023
Flooding problems arose for Fleetwood during and after the storm of July 6th, 2023. Residents measured rainfall varying from 1.76″ to 4″ during the short period of approximately an hour. The photo galleries and videos indicate the problems that have arisen resulting from the construction of the Hwy.6 at Memorial development by the Allied-Orion developers.
Tuesday June 6th – City of Houston – Public Works deny Request for Public Meeting concerning Traffic patterns and Safety
In a meeting at City of Houston Public Works in December (see below), it was agreed by Ahmed Ghaly, City of Houston Permitting Center Managing Engineer, that a Public Meeting would be useful, and he promised to make sure it happened, “within the next month” – “Please be advised that more discussion will take place during the planned public meeting before the layout is finalized”.
That has not happened, and it seems that Public Works are doing their utmost to avoid it happening. We have offered to coordinate such a meeting at the Kendall Public Library, but Public Works state they do not have the resources – despite attendance at Memorial SuperNeighborhood Meetings (Twice!), having been pre-advised that such meetings were not the correct venue. In addition, despite Council Member Mary Nan Huffman stating “Given Mr. Ghaly’s comments from January 13th and that conversations regarding the improvements intersection are ongoing, we will continue to work with our public works department to ensure that appropriate traffic control and safe pedestrian crossing measures are part of any final plan”, we have had no feedback, and the traffic plan remains unchanged since the first iteration.
We have emphasized what we first did in September, 2022. The letter from Public Works states that only left turns will be prevented. That is incorrect – the traffic plan does not allow for northbound traffic, and will force drivers from the new apartments on Addicks-Howell to turn right when heading north, and if their intent is to go west to Hwy. 6, or to the multiple restaurants north on Addicks-Howell, they will inevitably make U-turns into westbound traffic.
Accidents are bound to increase. No doubt those accidents will eventually involve drivers from Fleetwood.. and Memorial Thicket… and Barker’s Landing
Additionally, the plan includes a cross-walk, which will primarily be used by children heading to Wolfe Elementary, crossing four lanes of traffic, WITHOUT A STREET LIGHT!
As we have have no opportunity to meet and discuss this situation, we urge every resident to make their thoughts heard, by emailing them to the list of addressees below:
- Ahmed Ghaly – Houston Permitting Center Managing Engineer Ahmed.Ghaly@houstontx.gov
- Ian Hlavacek – Ian.Hlavacek@houstontx.gov
- Ricardo Rivas – Allied Orion Developers – rrivas@aogliving.com
- Gabe Lerner – Allied Orion Developers – glerner@aogliving.com
- Mary Nan Huffman – District G Council Member – MaryNan.Huffman@houstontx.gov
- James Rains – Chief of Staff to Mary Nan Huffman – James.Rains@houstontx.gov
Read the full email exchange thread HERE
Upcoming Developments in the Area
Meetings re “Six at Memorial” – December, 2022
We have had three meetings in the last month, the aim being to try to improve some of the perceived problems with the Six at Memorial development, including safety, drainage, and the traffic situation that will develop over time in the Addicks/Memorial/Hwy. 6 area, as the now SIX nearby multi-family properties come online.
The first was an online meeting with Houston Public Works (“PW”) on December 12th attended by Ahmed Ghaly, Managing Engineer of the Permitting Center, Houston Public Works, and two other staff members; and Randy Crump, Aubrey Haines, Janis Mecklenberg and Steve Wormald from Fleetwood.
We produced a map (above) showing the SIX upcoming developments and the actual or estimated numbers of units, which we estimate will bring between 1,500 and 2,000 additional multi-family units, all of which will have an impact on the traffic in the Hwy.6, Memorial and Addicks-Howell area, already congested and having recorded 620 vehicular accidents and 9 fatalities since 2015.
We also discussed our concerns with the current proposed layout at Addicks & Memorial (see www.westhouston.info/traffic/), which the responsible engineer had stated was designed to improve safety, without any knowledge of upcoming Six at Memorial development, and with only the current traffic levels. The inadequacy of the design was discussed, forcing as it does, all traffic to turn eastwards on Memorial when exiting Addicks-Howell, and therefore likely to invite U-turns to head west. Given the new Six at Memorial development, it was acknowledged by PW that further discussion was needed and our request for an in-person meeting was acknowledged to be a good next move.
The second meeting, also on Monday December 12th at Starbucks next to the Addicks site, was attended by Ricardo Rivas (CEO, Allied-Orion) and Lonnie Houston, (Project Manager); CML Mary Nan Huffman; and Chris Culberson, Janis Mecklenberg, Bob Rossen and Steve Wormald from Fleetwood. (Allied-Orion Group is the developer of the Six at Memorial (Addicks) property). Initially, we again requested a Certificate of Insurance with respect to the crane overhanging the adjacent Fleetwood West properties, which was promised, and subsequently received.
Mr. Rivas confirmed they plan to install landscaping on their property and will entertain partnering with Fleetwood West POA to install a green privacy screen (trees) along the East side of Addicks Howell to shield the adjacent properties from being overlooked. Mr. Rivas also stated they are planning to install a sidewalk around the entirety of the development.
The perceived safety problem was discussed, with children from the new development walking to school at Wolfe Elementary, and crossing five lanes of traffic on painted crosswalks, given the speeds and irresponsibility of many drivers on Memorial.
The next topic of discussion was the drainage problem, which with the new concrete coverage for the development, we foresee worsening the effects of the flooding in the properties in Fleetwood West. The inadequacy of the existing culvert under Addicks Howell draining to the Bayou was impressed upon the CEO for which Chris Culberson offered to contact and encourage TxDot to install larger, dual culvert pipes.
The third meeting was on December 28th, an in-person follow-up meeting to the December 12th meeting, this time at Houston Public Works, downtown Houston. Managing Engineer Ahmed Ghaly chaired the meeting, with Khang Nguyen and two staff engineers; and Randy Crump, Aubrey Haines, Janis Mecklenberg and Steve Wormald from Fleetwood.
We reviewed the updated map showing the projected traffic flows from the SIX developments, and discussed various options and ideas, understandably with no immediate conclusions. It was acknowledged that the entire area would be become a traffic nightmare and that some serious consideration need to be given to the problems, which were not addressed for the overall area in the individual TIAs (Traffic Impact Assessments) for the Caroline and Six at Memorial developments. We addressed the need to see the full TIAs (not just the supplied summaries), and the method to procure these was explained (a 30-day process).
We expressed concern that the proposed traffic layout plan for AddicksHowell-Memorial was unworkable, and implementing it a as short term improvement would only lead to even worse congestion in removing or modifying it having taken the Addicks development into account, which the currently proposed layout does not.
Public Works expressed their willingness to have a cooperative effort with the West Houston Steering Committee to continue to develop solutions to resolve the overall situation. A couple of potential strategies were discussed which we will be discussing with Allied-Orion on January 12th, and we will keep you informed.
There will be a Public Meeting, arranged by Houston Public Works, for nearby residents to express their ideas and concerns regarding the traffic situation in our area – time and place TBA, but within the next month and likely at a church or hotel.
After the rains…
Randy Crump – August 3rd, 2022
I pulled the transaction documents and statutes relevant to the Memorial at Six project on Addicks Howell. These are just my view of things and is not legal advice.
Lakeside Place PFC is a non-profit public facility corporation created by the Houston Housing Authority. Lakeside Place purchased the property from ATMA Memorial, LLC in August 2021. In September 2021, Lakeside Place entered into a 75 year lease of the property to Memorial at Six Lessee, LLC. Both ATMA Memorial and Memorial at Six are managed by Cardan, LLC. The manager of Cardan is Rene Bremauntz-Michavila.
Along with the lease to Memorial at Six, Lakeside Place put deed restrictions on the property requiring the certain percentages of the units to be built be leased to “low income” tenants. Of the proposed 307 units, 121 are set aside for tenants earning no more than 80% of the median family income for the greater Houston area. 31 units are set aside for tenants earning less than 60% of the area median income. 5 units are set aside for Houston Housing voucher tenants(what I would term Section 8 vouchers.) These are the minimum set asides. The landlord could do more. Rents for the low income units are below market based on a formula taking into account income.
The benefit to the developer is that development is exempt from sales and use taxes during construction and from property taxes during operation so long as it maintains the low income unit requirements. If the development loses it tax exemption, the rent limits go away. Also, the loan for the developer is guaranteed by HUD, which usually means a favorable rate.
I have no knowledge about why this was not known to City Council. There is a requirement of one public meeting of the Houston Housing Authority to discuss the project. I saw nothing in the statute requiring notice be given to the neighboring owners.