Shady Acres Information & Developments

[musicman]

Thought Perry had plans a couple of years ago to build some townhomes very near Lawndale/Wayside?

I miss having a Shady Tavern in my hood--I love a good, cheap, unpretentious local bar, but have not quite worked up the courage for the Harrisburg Country Club... I guess the inviting exterior just doesn't say to me 'come on in and relax, middle aged white lady!' Sorry for venturing even more off topic, but anybody familiar with the old east-end ice houses?

Perry decided it was a no go due to complaints. Perry sold the land to Kipp Academy which will go there.

HCC is an interesting place. i know several midtown/heights residents who frequent the east end ice houses including HCC. i've been with them as far east as navigation/75th to Tina's.

[Urbannomad]

I love a good, cheap, unpretentious local bar,

Now that's an understatement! Shady Tavern is a great place, but I've only been able to make it there once so far. I better work on that.

[Trae]

I like the area. Will the Cypress Commuter Line have a stop there?

[Urbannomad]

I like the area. Will the Cypress Commuter Line have a stop there?

I'm not sure. Since I've moved back here I find that it's very hard to find any info on Houston's rail plans. I can find a little here and there but nothing good. From a jpg I found (http://www.westhouston.org/06-2005-Phase-2-Map.gif) I'm assuming it will be further down at eureka rail yard in cottage grove and then will head out of the city via Hempstead hwy.

[musicman]

Now that's an understatement! Shady Tavern is a great place, but I've only been able to make it there once so far. I better work on that.

now that they caught the family that was going all the bar robberies up there, it should be better. i know that shady and boom boom room got hit and so did a few others.

[crunchtastic]

I didn't know that Boom Boom Room got it also, too bad. Met a friend there a couple of times and admittedly I was skeptical ('wine and pannini', or whatever) but it's a really nice addition to that end of the neighborhood. Time to venture out in the east end--co-worker does dart league and they occasionally play at Stephanies on Lawndale, across from the post office. Steel tip league, even--cool!

[musicman]

I didn't know that Boom Boom Room got it also, too bad. Met a friend there a couple of times and admittedly I was skeptical ('wine and pannini', or whatever) but it's a really nice addition to that end of the neighborhood. Time to venture out in the east end--co-worker does dart league and they occasionally play at Stephanies on Lawndale, across from the post office. Steel tip league, even--cool!

jackie really setup a nice place in the boom boom room. she just needs a ventahood for those panini. been to stephanie's too. good bike stop.

[lwood]

I'm not sure. Since I've moved back here I find that it's very hard to find any info on Houston's rail plans. I can find a little here and there but nothing good. From a jpg I found (http://www.westhouston.org/06-2005-Phase-2-Map.gif) I'm assuming it will be further down at eureka rail yard in cottage grove and then will head out of the city via Hempstead hwy.

From houstonheights.org

"Of particular interest to the Heights is the 50-foot right-of-way being reserved for future high capacity transit along Hempstead Road and US 290. No particular transit technology is proposed as part of this project, although the METRO Solutions plan envisions a commuter rail there in the future. Our concerns as a community have always been how a transit line could be built to serve - and not disrupt - Houston Heights.

At the September 10 General Meeting, a project representative will present the current plans, answer questions, and take our input on the plans".

[Urbannomad]

I really don't understand how this could "hurt" the heights if it's along hempstead hwy. That whole area is industrial anyway, with the exception of some homes cottage grove... maybe I'm missing something? I'm more concerned that 290 and Hempstead "toll way" will become the next Katy freeway. I'd much rather see rail than see hempstead turn into a major highway inside the loop.

[bevorules77]

Hello,

I'm thinking about buying a townhome in Shady Acres, on 24th Street. I'm impressed with the neighborhood, and with all the new construction there should be a lot of potential in the next few years.

However, the townhome is in the 100-year floodplain. It is brand new, so it is built to the new codes. The main living level is raised above the driveway; only the garage is on the ground. In addition, there is a drain in the driveway to keep flood waters out. I have verified that the flood insurance for this property is discounted significantly to $437/yr since the property is properly elevated.

Here's are my questions:

• Do the streets flood in that area? How did they hold up during the recent Tropical Storm Erin?
  
• Will being on a floodplain adversely affect the property's value in the future, even though it should be mostly OK in the event of a flood?
  

Thanks a lot!

[TJones]

I got hit with the new zoning, I was in the X for the past 30 years, then all the sudden... Well, no biggie, I am getting an "Elevation Certificate", and I believe I am probably 3 to 4 ft. above the elevation so my insurance is gonna be discounted to about $247 a year. Well worth spending the $325 one time to save almost a $1000 a year. I think you should be ok in the future, if it is just the garage that "MIGHT" get flooded, then I think it's no biggie. Houston was built on a swamp, half the city is in a flood plain.

[Tiko]

In addition, there is a drain in the driveway to keep flood waters out.

That might help with a heavy rain, but if the bayou floods, I wouldn't think that drain is going to help....any civil engineers on here?

[MidtownCoog]

You can run from the flood, but you can't hide. In Houston, everybody's number comes up sooner or later.

Even 77019.

[Waterfall]

That might help with a heavy rain, but if the bayou floods, I wouldn't think that drain is going to help....any civil engineers on here?

Howdy, I'm a civil engineer and I specialize in floodplain mapping and management.

To check exactly where your future home is located in relation to the White Oak Bayou floodplain, go to www.tsarp.org and use their interactive mapping tool. If you still need help, send me your address or just an intersection and I will check it myself.

You do need to have the homebuilder or a surveyor that you hire provide you with an elevation certificate. This document will come in handy not only for insurance purposes, but when you sell your house.

A small drain will not be effective during a major storm event. Most storm sewers in the City of Houston are designed for a rainstorm that has a 33% chance of occurring in any year.

Being on 24th Street, I wouldn't worry TOO much. Just keep in mind that if a really big storm does come (and it will one day!) your house may be an island for a few hours or possibly days...

Please let me know if you have any other questions. In my very biased opinion, my firm is the premier group of drainage and floodplain consultants in Harris County and I don't mind helping out HAIFers.

[TJones]

Howdy, I'm a civil engineer and I specialize in floodplain mapping and management.

To check exactly where your future home is located in relation to the White Oak Bayou floodplain, go to www.tsarp.org and use their interactive mapping tool. If you still need help, send me your address or just an intersection and I will check it myself.

You do need to have the homebuilder or a surveyor that you hire provide you with an elevation certificate. This document will come in handy not only for insurance purposes, but when you sell your house.

A small drain will not be effective during a major storm event. Most storm sewers in the City of Houston are designed for a rainstorm that has a 33% chance of occurring in any year.

Being on 24th Street, I wouldn't worry TOO much. Just keep in mind that if a really big storm does come (and it will one day!) your house may be an island for a few hours or possibly days...

Please let me know if you have any other questions. In my very biased opinion, my firm is the premier group of drainage and floodplain consultants in Harris County and I don't mind helping out HAIFers.

Then maybe you can explain to me how a house sitting for 30 years in an "X" plain, all of the sudden becomes an "AE" ? I'm in Bear Creek my house is literally next to the Addicks reservoir, and sits on high. I am not worried about flooding, but I do think this will definately take some buyers out the market for me in 20 years.

Thanks in advance.

[bevorules77]

Thanks for the advice. The home is on 24th Street, between Couch and Bevis. According to the tsarp map (which I had checked before) and my realtor, it's in the 'AE' zone.

Howdy, I'm a civil engineer and I specialize in floodplain mapping and management.

To check exactly where your future home is located in relation to the White Oak Bayou floodplain, go to www.tsarp.org and use their interactive mapping tool. If you still need help, send me your address or just an intersection and I will check it myself.

You do need to have the homebuilder or a surveyor that you hire provide you with an elevation certificate. This document will come in handy not only for insurance purposes, but when you sell your house.

A small drain will not be effective during a major storm event. Most storm sewers in the City of Houston are designed for a rainstorm that has a 33% chance of occurring in any year.

Being on 24th Street, I wouldn't worry TOO much. Just keep in mind that if a really big storm does come (and it will one day!) your house may be an island for a few hours or possibly days...

Please let me know if you have any other questions. In my very biased opinion, my firm is the premier group of drainage and floodplain consultants in Harris County and I don't mind helping out HAIFers.

[Waterfall]

Then maybe you can explain to me how a house sitting for 30 years in an "X" plain, all of the sudden becomes an "AE" ? I'm in Bear Creek my house is literally next to the Addicks reservoir, and sits on high. I am not worried about flooding, but I do think this will definately take some buyers out the market for me in 20 years.

Thanks in advance.

Without more data, I cannot answer your question. However, several areas in Harris County had the flood hazard determination (the Zone X and Zone AE you are referring to) modified as part of the Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project (TSARP).

Also, if you have been in your house for 30 years, then you surely have noticed the uptick in development to the west, or upstream of you. With more development comes more rainfall runoff. Without proper detention measures and/or channel capacity improvements, the floodplain could easily spread to areas where it never reached before.

[Urbannomad]

Then maybe you can explain to me how a house sitting for 30 years in an "X" plain, all of the sudden becomes an "AE" ? I'm in Bear Creek my house is literally next to the Addicks reservoir, and sits on high. I am not worried about flooding, but I do think this will definately take some buyers out the market for me in 20 years.

Thanks in advance.

In a nutshell LiDAR and improved GIS/modeling capabilities. If you aren't sure what LiDAR is check out http://www.tsarp.org/tsarp_over/lidar.html or just google it. It allows for far more accurate contours to be created and therefore they can create much more precise models. Whether or not they have is open for debate (mostly among those now affected). Hence the reason the flood plains have changed. I worked for a remote sensing company for a time flying LiDAR surveys, it's a pretty cool I must say.

Waterfall also makes a good point about upstream development and increased runoff throughout the system.

[Waterfall]

Thanks for the advice. The home is on 24th Street, between Couch and Bevis. According to the tsarp map (which I had checked before) and my realtor, it's in the 'AE' zone.

No problem. An AE flood zone simply means that the area in question is inside the limits of the 1% annual exceedance probability floodplain. Formerly, this was called the 100-year floodplain which mislead too many people into thinking that floods would occur only once in a hundred years. So the longer, harder to say name is more accurate in that areas within a AE zone have a 1% chance of being flooded in any given year.As for your case, your 1% AEP water surface elevation is approximately 57.5 feet. Harris County requires that the finished floor elevation (ground floor at your front door) be 18 inches above the 1% AEP water surface elevation. This means your slab should be around 59.0 feet or higher. And as I tell all of my friends and clients, if you live in Harris County, buy flood insurance. I live in a relatively high part of the Heights and I have it. You just never know...

In a nutshell LiDAR and improved GIS/modeling capabilities. If you aren't sure what LiDAR is check out http://www.tsarp.org/tsarp_over/lidar.html or just google it. It allows for far more accurate contours to be created and therefore they can create much more precise models. Whether or not they have is open for debate (mostly among those now affected). Hence the reason the flood plains have changed. I worked for a remote sensing company for a time flying LiDAR surveys, it's a pretty cool I must say.

I didn't want to get too technical concerning the model preparation, but I can if anyone would like me to. Harris County was the one of the first major, urban areas to have LIDAR flown for floodplain mapping. The dataset is immense and very accurate, thus leading to several floodplain re-alignments. A discussion about the accuracy of the models could take me days to type up.... Many were prepared by out of town firms and I suspect they did not have the some of the local, first hand knowledge of how our bayous and creeks react to storm events.

[TJones]

Waterfall, you totally answered my question. I completely understand that with all the new construction the runoff becomes forced in my direction. Thanks a bunch for the bad news.

[Norhill Dennis]

You might also check HoustonFloodway.org. I know part of the area will not allow new constuction or even renovations in the future.

Dennis

[Urbannomad]

Just stay East of Bevis and you'll be ok, at least as far as the flood way is concerned.

[Alba]

Hi everyone,

my husband and I have just moved to Houston and we have now signed up for a lease on a house in Shady Acres.

I am however getting really nervous about reports of burglaries and other crimes in the area... Am I going to feel safe in my own house (I will spend a lot of time at home on my own...). Are my home and my possessions going to be safe when we are away for the day or on vacation?? How bad is crime in the area? Do you feel safe walking around? Our house will have an alarm, but is that sufficient as a deterrent? Do these things actually work (i.e. does the police turn up if they go off?)?

Sorry about all these seemingly silly questions, but I am getting worried!

[Urbannomad]

Hi everyone,

my husband and I have just moved to Houston and we have now signed up for a lease on a house in Shady Acres.

I am however getting really nervous about reports of burglaries and other crimes in the area... Am I going to feel safe in my own house (I will spend a lot of time at home on my own...). Are my home and my possessions going to be safe when we are away for the day or on vacation?? How bad is crime in the area? Do you feel safe walking around? Our house will have an alarm, but is that sufficient as a deterrent? Do these things actually work (i.e. does the police turn up if they go off?)?

Sorry about all these seemingly silly questions, but I am getting worried!

The area is relatively safe. From my experience everything inside your locked house "should" be ok. Anything left on your porches or in your garage is fair game though. So I suggest chaining it down like my rocking chairs are! We've really only personally experienced petty property crime, but I know there have been instances of more serious crimes in the neighborhood.

The cops seem to respond quickly and they are helpful.

I was outside about 2am this past Sunday morning and there was some general shadiness in the street out front of my house, but what do you expect that late/earl; however during the day it's not bad at all. Walking is fine just be careful after dark.

Check out the police beat for the neighborhood. There are a number of crimes more serious than petty theft, but I think that must be amongst people who know one another because I don't get an unsafe feeling. There are much worse/more dangerous places to live, just use common sense and get to know your neighbors.

http://www.houstontx.gov/police/cs/beatpages/cs2a60.htm

[Alba]

Hi urbannomad, and many thanks for your speedy answer! We won't leave anything out on the front porch! Back porch may be ok?? The house owner does have furniture there at the moment... My husband has a nice bicycle, you wouldn't advise leaving it in the garage unless it is secured?

[Urbannomad]

Back porch may be ok??

NO!!! Unless it's heavy and hard to get off with, for instance we leave our grill in the back; but otherwise if you can't stand losing it... don't leave it out, even in the back. We had someone jump the fence into our backyard twice to get into the garage in one night. Which leads me to believe if we had anything worth taking on the back porch it would be gone too if they could have carried it. If you have neighbors on both sides you might be okay in the back, but we have a vacant lot on one side so it's just too tempting I suppose. I would definitely lock the bike up in your garage if you can, they are hot items!

[gwilson]

I typed out a long drawn out response as to why this is one of the most unsafe neighborhoods in town, then I realized, it said "Shady Acres" not "Acres Homes".

What a waste!

Cliffs: Don't move to Acres Homes.

[Alba]

I typed out a long drawn out response as to why this is one of the most unsafe neighborhoods in town, then I realized, it said "Shady Acres" not "Acres Homes".

What a waste!

Cliffs: Don't move to Acres Homes.

Oh no! Sorry you wasted time typing for nothing, but VERY glad I won't be living in Acres Homes!!

[Urbannomad]

I typed out a long drawn out response as to why this is one of the most unsafe neighborhoods in town, then I realized, it said "Shady Acres" not "Acres Homes".

Sorry, but that is hilarious!

[gwilson]

indeed. oops.

Alba, your first name doesn't happen to be Jessica does it? If it is, hello thar!