Woodwind Lakes Drama

[Highway6]

I came across this Houston Press Article today about the drama that has unfolded up in Woodwind Lakes the last 5+ years.

To sum up, 1/4 of the neighborhood was built upon what used to be Fairbanks Oil Field, and there's mucho contamination. The developer did a shoddy job of checking the site out environmentally, there was zero discolosure on any of the homes sells.... The article actually centers though on the family that found out about this and brought it up, and their exile from the neighborhood...and the overall debate over health concerns vs property values. The article reads like what i imagine a 'Desperate Housewives' script might.

Anyways, I had never heard about this until today, certainly havent noticed anything about it ever in the Chronicle or on the news ? Has anyone here ever heard about this issue ? Have i just missed it and this is actually old news ?

It peaks my interest because I grew up two neighborhoods to the south. They started this development around the time i was in junior high, so my friends and i would spend our summer climing the sand pits that were to become the lakes, exploring sewer lines, etc... basically just being kids in this future development. This neighborhood was actually 2nd on my parents list before we decided to move elsewhere instead.

Anyways.. article was an interesting read and news to me... just wondering if others had heard about this.

Thanks.

[sevfiv]

i remember reading about it, but it might have been that same article...

here is the Public Health Assessment from the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/FormerDel...eryHC022307.pdf

from the Houston Press article:

In early 1997, Paul Anderson often drove through Woodwind Lakes to watch his family's dream house being built. But his excitement fizzled when construction crews uncovered an oil well in the front yard.

Anderson complained to Trendmaker Homes, which asked him to sign an agreement releasing the Houston-based luxury homebuilder from any liability. He says Trendmaker's representatives assured him the lot was clean: "They said it was construction debris."

niiiice

[Highway6]

i remember reading about it, but it might have been that same article...

here is the Public Health Assessment from the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/FormerDel...eryHC022307.pdf

That appears to be the smaller part of the contaminated land... assuming there is a separate report for the land owned by Delroc as opposed to the land owned by Fairbanks..

Paul Anderson, the main neighbor from the article, has this to say about this report in the comments section of the article..

"D" omits (#8) that the January 2007 report by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry did not take into account the findings of Trinity Environmental or the high number of animal deaths and illnesses (dogs, my beloved Labrador in particular). The Agency report looks at statistical increases in cancer and diseases and only counts people that live there. There has not been a long enough time to see any statistical cancer increases in any reports. But "D", what about all the people that have moved from the subdivision? The report says the ground surface is safe, but evades stating that there are threats from IN the ground. "D", you have probably not read the sworn testimony of the TCEQ (March 21, 2007) where a resident of WWL was recently told by the TCEQ to "be careful with your kids [playing and digging in the yard] until we figure this out."

[sevfiv]

ooh - here's where i read about some of it:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...p?showtopic=470

[Highway6]

ooh - here's where i read about some of it:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...p?showtopic=470

Wow... posted in 2004.. So it really hasnt made the news that much at all.

Kinda sucks for the people living there now, evetually this will get around a lot more until those property values really feel it. Sucks for those that moved in relatively recently anyways but its hard to feel sorry for those that knew about it and didnt already get out.

I mean.. the whole point of wanting to maintain your property value is that one day you'll want to leave and you'll want to make money on your investment... well.. these people had to have figured one day this story might become big enough to effect property values... why not jump ship ? Did they just assume the problem would go away and never effect their property values ?

Also.. how prevalent do you think this is in suburban developments here.. I imagine there are more numerous cases of much lesser degrees.. but this article makes it sound like Woodwind Lakes got the shaft and have a much more major environmental problem on their hands.

[sevfiv]

it pays to know the history of the land...

and apparently the man in the press article jumped ship in 2005...

spot-checking the values of some homes in this community showed value around $200k - a lot less than i was thinking

[GovernorAggie]

Wow... posted in 2004.. So it really hasnt made the news that much at all.

Kinda sucks for the people living there now, evetually this will get around a lot more until those property values really feel it. Sucks for those that moved in relatively recently anyways but its hard to feel sorry for those that knew about it and didnt already get out.

I mean.. the whole point of wanting to maintain your property value is that one day you'll want to leave and you'll want to make money on your investment... well.. these people had to have figured one day this story might become big enough to effect property values... why not jump ship ? Did they just assume the problem would go away and never effect their property values ?

Also.. how prevalent do you think this is in suburban developments here.. I imagine there are more numerous cases of much lesser degrees.. but this article makes it sound like Woodwind Lakes got the shaft and have a much more major environmental problem on their hands.

How prevalent? I'd say very. THe reason is that a co-worker of mine gave me a little historical lesson regarding Houston's street names. Names such as Addicks-Satsuma, Fairbanks-N. Houston, N. Houston-Rosslyn, Almeda-Genoa, and so on sound like they connect two former burgs before Houston urbanized around them. HOWEVER, some of them were roads that connected oilfields, like Fairbanks. I'd say that if you can't look through Harris County history to see Fairbanks, Rosslyn, Addicks, Satsuma, Rosehill, Almeda, Genoa, or any other hyphened name street name were old settlements, you might play it safe and consider that it was an oilfield.

[DaveMc]

Totally agree with Governor Aggie. I grew up off Westheimer when it was two lanes and just a country road past Gessner. All the land between Fairbanks settlement to Cypress over to Humble was cow pasture and many with well pumps.

[mrfootball]

Talk about knowing the history of the land. When I lived in Midtown, there was a large open field located about a block over from West Gray that was surrounded by townhomes and some renovated warehouses that have become lofts. Its a popular dog walking area, that many wanted turned into a park. Of course it would've become townhomes if not for the fact it was the former site of a large Icehouse and its apparently a toxic site (benzene, I think).

[texas911]

Hey man, oil is totally organic. Its safe!

[mrfootball]

So many pitfalls to look out for. Developers figure what buyers don't know won't hurt them (right away, at least). Of course, they also don't tell people how bad it is for you to live within a half-mile of a major freeway either. Prolonged exposure to higher levels of emissions, spills, etc. Worse for people living near major interchanges where you get double to triple the prolonged exposure.