Lake Thicket - Board of Directors of Fonn Villas Civic Association

July 3, 2012

Mr. Michael Mair

EVP and Regional Manager

Skanska USA Commercial Development

1776 Yorktown, Suite 690

Houston, TX  77056

Dear Mr. Mair,

The Board of Directors of Fonn Villas Civic Association, Inc is writing to you as concerned neighbors about Skanska’s high rise office building development underway at 15375 Memorial Drive in Houston, Texas.  We seek your immediate attention because we are concerned that Skanska is ready to embark on actions that irreversibly damage the environment and increase flooding along Buffalo Bayou.

When Skanska purchased the property back in February, the Memorial community was hopeful that Skanska would preserve the natural wildlife habitat around the 2-acre Lake Thicket.  Instead the conditions of the lake have deteriorated for months, and the ducks are dying and now are being removed from the property.  We were told in your June 1 letter to the neighbors that “there are no plans to drain the pond in the immediate future” and that Skanska “will not make any determination on the pond until plans have been finalized”.  Why are you then hedging rather than committing to restore Lake Thicket to its historic position as a showcase of the Memorial community and to serving as both a wildlife habitat and a storm water retention lake?

Attached for your information are pictures of the same Lake Thicket view with one taken on a recent typical day and another during flooding conditions.  If the Lake had been gone during this 2009 flood, approximately 3 million gallons of water would have been released to further flood adjacent properties as well as downstream communities like Fonn Villas. 

You say in your June 20 letter to the neighbors that Lake Thicket “is not considered a regulatory retention or detention facility” and that Lake Thicket “has no impact on neighborhood drainage,” but the attached picture clearly contradicts those statements.  Instead the old "drainage system,” which includes Lake Thicket and the course of the original Buffalo Bayou on the West side of Skanska's property, resumes its function and stores significant volumes of floodwater. If you reduce this capacity, it is at peril of many communities.

Why is Fonn Villas especially concerned?  In April of 2009, 250 homes along Buffalo Bayou flooded, many of them in the Fonn Villas and Frostwood area.   One of the reasons for the flooding is the lack of good retention or detention areas upstream to accommodate the increased impervious areas, which resulted from the area’s highway and building construction in the last decade.  The other reason is that Buffalo Bayou is incapable of handling heavy storms.

  

Our Memorial community welcomes Skanska as a developer.   We just want your commitment now to save our natural lake, which enhances the beauty of the Memorial neighborhood.  This commitment will help eliminate costly flooding along Buffalo Bayou, and will likely help Skanska land more attractive tenants.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Patrick Clynes

Tonya Wright

Fonn Villas Board

Lake Thicket - Barkers Landing Board of Directors

From:  Leigh Voreh
To:  Michael McNally, Skanska
Sent: Mon, July 2, 2012 3:43:28 PM
Subject: Lake Thicket - Barkers Landing Board of Directors

Good Afternoon Mr. McNally and Associates,

Please read the attached letter and photos from the Barkers Landing Homeowners Association Board of Directors. They, along with other communities are very concerned about Lake Thicket .

Please feel free to contact me with any information I can pass along to the Board of Directors.

Thank you,

Leigh Adams

LETTER CONTENTS:

Barkers Landing Homeowners Association, Inc.

P. O. Box 219223

Houston, Texas 77218

281-870-0585 / Fax 281-870-9170

  

July 2, 2012

Dear Mr. McNally and Associates,

Our Barkers Landing Board is writing to you as concerned neighbors about Skanska’s office building development which is underway at 15375 Memorial Drive in Houston, Texas.  We are apprehensive that Skanska is ready to embark on actions that will irreversibly damage the wildlife environment and increase flooding along Buffalo Bayou. Therefore, we seek your immediate attention.

Lake Thicket is a two-acre natural body of water sited about 30 yards south of Memorial Drive between Eldridge and Highway 6.  Lake Thicket is not just some nice man-made water feature; it is the historical confluence of Buffalo Bayou (the banks of which the City of Houston was founded on in 1836) and Langham Creek.  Just immediately upstream of Lake Thicket, ExxonMobil Chemical Company kept and enhanced that portion of Langham Creek that flowed across its property.

When Skanska purchased the property in February, the Memorial community was hopeful that it would preserve the natural wildlife habitat around the 2-acre Lake Thicket, as has been done across the street by ExxonMobil. Initially, our community was led to believe that the lake and the wildlife habitat surrounding the lake would be preserved   Instead the conditions of the lake have deteriorated for months, the lake was fenced off and the ducks are dying and now are being removed from the property. In a recent communication from Skanska we were told that the domestic ducks have been moved to a “safe, habitable location”. Many still remain with difficult access to the lake itself.

Also attached for comparison sake are two different pictures of Lake Thicket. One was taken on a recent average day and another during flooding conditions in 2009.  If Lake Thicket had been gone during this flood, approximately three million gallons of water would have been released to further impact the flooding on adjacent properties, as well as downstream surrounding neighborhoods. Skanska states in the attached communication mailed June 20 that Lake Thicket “is not considered a regulatory retention or detention facility” and that Lake Thicket “has no impact on neighborhood drainage”, but this picture is clearly contradictory to those statements. Additional flooding without Lake Thicket would be detrimental to many Memorial communities adjacent to and downstream from the Skanska property. This lack of concern for the impact made on the area in deference to a potentially more lucrative outcome for Skanska causes us great concern.

Our Memorial community welcomes Skanska and other companies to our fast-growing West Houston community.  And we must remain watchful and protective of our natural resources. Any changes made in haste may cause irreparable damage to our safety and to the environment.  We implore you to invest in our community by retaining Lake Thicket to preserve our Memorial wildlife habitat and to avoid additional flooding of our community.  Your new tenant(s) will benefits from a more pleasing work environment that will result in more satisfied and highly productive employees.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

 Barkers Landing Board of Directors

 

 

Recent Picture of Average Day at Lake Thicket



Lake Thicket During Flooding Conditions in 2009