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Unkindest cut of ‘08: Trees felled for drainage project
  
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By MICHAEL REED
Residents were told in January despite a compromise that reclaimed 7 feet of paved width from a plan to revamp Kirby Drive, that all of the trees between Richmond Avenue and Westheimer Road would be lost to flood project construction.
A Houston arborist told a group attending an Upper Kirby District meeting that after walking the site, it was determined that even with a roadway that is 73 feet across, the majority of trees will be unable to survive.
The city’s Victor Cordova said only eight trees within the area have a “realistic chance” of surviving, and that is because they are relatively small rather than in a viable location. He called moving those trees “a very expensive venture.”
This came about two months after about 150 residents were told by an Upper Kirby Redevelopment Authority (TIRZ) arborist that plans to widen Kirby to 80 feet would mean the removal of all 143 live oaks and 18 smaller trees from the area.
The news prompted Trees for Houston to withdrawn its support for the project four months later.
“These plans will, in fact, completely destroy the very environment that has drawn significant reinvestment dollars and marketing appeal to the Upper Kirby area,” said Barry Ward, director of the organization.
Ward’s comments came in a news release a week before the organization’s founding President William Coats told a group attending the Upper Kirby District TIRZ on May 28 that the nonprofit now supports reducing the width of the proposed street surface alterations by a foot on either side.
TIRZ President Buddy Bailey countered saying the project had been seven years in the making and came with the support of 87 percent of the adjacent landowners.
In July, the TIRZ board unanimously awarded a contract for storm drainage relief with the promise it would consider changes to reduce the project’s cost and possibly save trees.
The lowest of four bids was accepted from Texas Sterling Construction Co. for slightly more than $18.2 million.
The amount, which was about $2.6 million more than engineering estimates, came in higher because of the rising cost of building materials — especially steel — a Sterling representative said.
Workers began removing trees along Kirby during the wee hours July 29, while most of the city slept.
The early phase of construction between Westheimer Road to Richmond Avenue required the closing of one southbound lane — the area where the trees were removed.
Construction workers on the project are currently on a holiday break, but will resume Jan. 5. The flood relief effort is scheduled for completion in November 2009.
That other Kirby drainage
Motorists looking at their use of side streets to avoid Kirby Drive to the south as an annoying but necessary sprint to daylight and flood relief may be about to found out in April they had entered something more closely resembling a marathon.
And it would be a marathon that may take as long as two years — not just to complete — but get back to point the city of Houston thought it was already at earlier this year.
Prior to offering the final stage of a street reconstruction project to bidders about six weeks earlier, the city discovered what Councilman Peter Brown would call “an error of unheard of proportions.”
The calculations for part of the east side of the soon-to-be improved Kirby were found to be off by several feet because, the city said, contract engineers wrongly believed the east side right of way was 15 feet wide for all properties from Bissonnet Street to U.S. Highway 59.
“Somebody really dropped the ball on this one,” Brown said. “If we had some planning and street standards, this would never have happened.”
One affected property owner, Alan Helfman, whose Helfman River Oaks Chrysler Jeep has been in the 4800 block of Kirby Drive for 40 years, said his property was among those that had never signed over its 15-foot strip of land to the city.
Helfman said he has known about the error and the possibility “some land” could be taken “for a while,” but was stunned upon learning that said his loss could extend to just shy of his display window and take part of his pre-owned car lot.
“The whole deal and the delay (in the project) are ludicrous,” Helfman said. “Why can’t they redo it like it is without taking property? They said they don’t want to upset the applecart.”
In August, however, the Houston Planning Commission gave its blessing to a plan that would widen the right of way along Kirby Drive — from Bissonnet Street to U.S. Highway 59 — 80 feet.
City Council in October approved reclassifying that stretch of Kirby as a 95-foot-right-of-way principal thoroughfare.
A Houston arborist told a group attending an Upper Kirby District meeting that after walking the site, it was determined that even with a roadway that is 73 feet across, the majority of trees will be unable to survive.
The city’s Victor Cordova said only eight trees within the area have a “realistic chance” of surviving, and that is because they are relatively small rather than in a viable location. He called moving those trees “a very expensive venture.”
This came about two months after about 150 residents were told by an Upper Kirby Redevelopment Authority (TIRZ) arborist that plans to widen Kirby to 80 feet would mean the removal of all 143 live oaks and 18 smaller trees from the area.
The news prompted Trees for Houston to withdrawn its support for the project four months later.
“These plans will, in fact, completely destroy the very environment that has drawn significant reinvestment dollars and marketing appeal to the Upper Kirby area,” said Barry Ward, director of the organization.
Ward’s comments came in a news release a week before the organization’s founding President William Coats told a group attending the Upper Kirby District TIRZ on May 28 that the nonprofit now supports reducing the width of the proposed street surface alterations by a foot on either side.
TIRZ President Buddy Bailey countered saying the project had been seven years in the making and came with the support of 87 percent of the adjacent landowners.
In July, the TIRZ board unanimously awarded a contract for storm drainage relief with the promise it would consider changes to reduce the project’s cost and possibly save trees.
The lowest of four bids was accepted from Texas Sterling Construction Co. for slightly more than $18.2 million.
The amount, which was about $2.6 million more than engineering estimates, came in higher because of the rising cost of building materials — especially steel — a Sterling representative said.
Workers began removing trees along Kirby during the wee hours July 29, while most of the city slept.
The early phase of construction between Westheimer Road to Richmond Avenue required the closing of one southbound lane — the area where the trees were removed.
Construction workers on the project are currently on a holiday break, but will resume Jan. 5. The flood relief effort is scheduled for completion in November 2009.
That other Kirby drainage
Motorists looking at their use of side streets to avoid Kirby Drive to the south as an annoying but necessary sprint to daylight and flood relief may be about to found out in April they had entered something more closely resembling a marathon.
And it would be a marathon that may take as long as two years — not just to complete — but get back to point the city of Houston thought it was already at earlier this year.
Prior to offering the final stage of a street reconstruction project to bidders about six weeks earlier, the city discovered what Councilman Peter Brown would call “an error of unheard of proportions.”
The calculations for part of the east side of the soon-to-be improved Kirby were found to be off by several feet because, the city said, contract engineers wrongly believed the east side right of way was 15 feet wide for all properties from Bissonnet Street to U.S. Highway 59.
“Somebody really dropped the ball on this one,” Brown said. “If we had some planning and street standards, this would never have happened.”
One affected property owner, Alan Helfman, whose Helfman River Oaks Chrysler Jeep has been in the 4800 block of Kirby Drive for 40 years, said his property was among those that had never signed over its 15-foot strip of land to the city.
Helfman said he has known about the error and the possibility “some land” could be taken “for a while,” but was stunned upon learning that said his loss could extend to just shy of his display window and take part of his pre-owned car lot.
“The whole deal and the delay (in the project) are ludicrous,” Helfman said. “Why can’t they redo it like it is without taking property? They said they don’t want to upset the applecart.”
In August, however, the Houston Planning Commission gave its blessing to a plan that would widen the right of way along Kirby Drive — from Bissonnet Street to U.S. Highway 59 — 80 feet.
City Council in October approved reclassifying that stretch of Kirby as a 95-foot-right-of-way principal thoroughfare.
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