{"id":780066,"date":"2026-05-07T17:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/780066\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:02:25","slug":"future-of-scarborough-development-remains-unclear-as-local-flood-concerns-prompt-states-reconsideration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/780066\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of Scarborough development remains unclear as local flood concerns prompt state’s reconsideration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTexas General Land Office<\/a> officials said the development of 5,500 acres of green space near Benders Landing will not happen as previously planned, as pushback continues to mount from residents and elected officials alike due to flooding concerns.<\/p>\n

Local leaders said they are now looking to the next state legislative session to help fund a solution.<\/p>\n

The big picture<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scarborough Lane Development<\/a> purchased the property in early 2025 with plans to build between 5,000 and 7,000 homes. The land is located between Spring Creek and the West Fork of the San Jacinto River. It is largely located within the 500- and 100-year floodplain and, in some areas, the actual floodway, Montgomery County Precinct 3<\/a> Commissioner Ritch Wheeler said<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a two-fold problem: if that land is developed, we are concerned that water may end up backing up into those residential communities just north of the property,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBut the other thing that will happen is, it will send an enormous amount of water farther south of the property\u2014Kingwood, Atascocita, Lake Houston and other areas of Harris County.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, Wheeler\u2014alongside Harris County Precinct 3<\/a> Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Steve Toth, the Republican nominee<\/a> for Texas\u2019 2nd Congressional District, who is running unopposed in November\u2014announced they were working with state officials to explore options for preserving the land, as previously reported<\/a> by Community Impact.<\/p>\n

The latest<\/strong><\/p>\n

In early May, a group of concerned residents started an online petition<\/a> opposing the development, which has since garnered more than 3,700 signatures and endorsements from local officials. Susan Marrero, a resident of Benders Landing Estates, said the back of her community flooded during Hurricane Harvey and she hopes the petition will help spread awareness and protect lives and properties from being lost to future flooding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a catastrophe waiting to happen if developed,\u201d Marrero said. \u201cMy business flooded during Harvey, and I can only imagine what people in the Kingwood, Humble and Lake Houston [area] went through\u2014I want to try to help it from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Rehak<\/a>, local flooding expert and author of “Reduce Flooding – Now,”<\/a> said the development would create a public safety issue for both residents of the development and surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

Wheeler noted the GLO has an investment in the development through the Texas Permanent School Fund Corp.<\/a>, which was established during the 87th Texas Legislature. In a May 6 emailed statement, GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham told Community Impact the project would not be moving forward as planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have heard the concerns of the local community surrounding this potential development and as previously stated, this project will not be proceeding as planned,\u201d Buckingham said. \u201cWe are exploring ways for this property to be a part of a transformational flood mitigation project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wheeler said Buckingham\u2019s statement is consistent with what he\u2019s been told by state officials as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time I talked to anybody over at Scarborough and\/or Commissioner Buckingham, they both said they were reevaluating whether or not they wanted to keep the GLO\u2019s investment in the development, and if the GLO doesn\u2019t keep their investment in the development, the landowner\u2014i.e., Scarborough\u2014potentially would be willing to sell that land to the state,” he said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/strong><\/p>\n

As of May 6, Wheeler said more elected officials have been brought in for the cause, including Houston City Council District E<\/a> council member Fred Flickinger; Brad Bailey, the Republican nominee for Texas House District 15, who is running unopposed in November; and Brett Ligon, who was recently elected<\/a> to Texas Senate District 4. Wheeler said they\u2019re preparing for the next legislative session\u2014set to kick off in January 2027\u2014where they hope to find a permanent solution for the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plan is to introduce some legislation in that legislative cycle so that the state can buy that land,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cWe would like for the state to appropriate enough money to the General Land Office so that the General Land Office could buy that land and have it as a state asset. It could be a state park, a state forest … but the main thing is to keep it a green space and to have regional detention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wheeler said he\u2019s already spoken to engineers about existing sandpits on the property that could be further excavated to provide regional stormwater detention. Additionally, the land could potentially feature small pocket parks and trails.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Wheeler said he encourages residents to continue voicing their concerns to local, state and federal officials.<\/p>\n

“Until this land is transferred\/purchased and protected as natural green space or park, we will not back down,” Marrero said. “Right now, there are no guarantees.”<\/p>\n

Scarborough Lane Development officials could not be reached as of press time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas General Land Office officials said the development of 5,500 acres of green space near Benders Landing will…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":780067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[2556,8580,4345,65058,48805,319315,153424,9877,358,30893,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-780066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-development","9":"tag-flooding","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-kingwood","12":"tag-lake-houston","13":"tag-ryko","14":"tag-scarborough","15":"tag-spring","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-the-woodlands","18":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116534375023086256","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}