Council Talks Drainage, Voting Lines
The drainage issues in La Grange are going to get even closer scrutiny by the city council.
Last Monday, after five residents from several different parts of the city spoke to the council about their recent stormrelated flooding issues, the council unanimously voted that the drainage issue be referred to the General Services Committee “for a more detailed review of the issue.”
Information presented to the council Monday by city manager Shawn Raborn said, “rain events over the past six months have been unique 100-200-year rainfall events according to the NOAA Atlas 14 Point Precipitation Frequency Estimates. The committee will look at the current design standards for municipal storm water systems, recently impacted areas, current engineering assessments and methods to pay for the identified improvements.”
Harvey Rebound?
During his address to the council Monday, Ken Taylor, in addition to the drainage issues he said he sees near his home on S. Jackson St, stated that he has noticed a significant number of residents moving back into the mobile home areas of La Grange that were flooded during Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
“If we get another Harvey, a flood is going to wash them away again,” Taylor said.
Later in the meeting, Raborn addressed that point, saying homes are allowed back in that area provided they are sitting above the base-flood elevation level, a level set by The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Prior to Harvey, many of those homes were not above that level, Raborn said.
Redistricting
Speaking of Hurricane Harvey, the continuing impact of that storm played a big role in Monday’s other big topic of conversation by the council – redistricting.
According to the 2020 Census, La Grange’s population dropped from 4,641 in the year 2010 to 4,350.
That population drop was really felt in Ward 2, which includes many of the areas hardest hit by Harvey.
Ward 2 lost 220 people (a 20-percent drop) between census counts.
As mentioned above, those neighborhoods are coming back, but at the time of the 2020 census they had not rebounded. So the city legally must redistrict its wards to better distribute the population figures from the 2020 census.
Municipal attorney Alan Bojorquez recommended that the city finalize new ward boundaries by early January after getting feedback from the community, including a public hearing – details to be determined.