Good day LOLC Residents,
As you may know in the 20FEB2020 board meeting the SJRA Board voted to continue the lake lowering program until December 2022 however the City of Houston is saying it is their water and they can do what they want with it……”even lower the lake to 180”; Statement made by the City representative in the 20FEB2020 SJRA Board Meeting. He also said they want the program to continue until their flood mitigation projects are completed but gave no date for that with the exception of the new larger flood gates installation would complete in 2023. These are in design right now and a construction contract was said to have been let to Black and Veach with the Army Corps of Engineers managing the project. I know the Corps and I can tell you from experience this will be a slow process and 2023 is optimistic at best, and this is not the completion date for “all” of the City of Houston’s flood mitigation projects, so their projects’ completion date could be many more years out.
I attended the 20FEB2020 SJRA Board meeting and what I heard was disturbing as the City of Houston was quite aggressive as they made it clear this is their water and they can do whatever they want with it. They acted as bullies and made threats, which is something no one should have to endure. Additionally, the City of Houston has been collecting fees for flood mitigation for years and has not done anything of substance with those fees. My understanding, from comments made in previous SJRA meetings is more the half the fees collected went somewhere other than flood mitigation. Interesting as I also heard, in the same forum, these funds are mandated by law that they can only be used for flood mitigation projects. So, where did the rest of it go?
This and many other questions should be asked and answered but more importantly Lake Conroe needs to stop being the City of Houston’s excuse for flooding downstream and the City needs to be held accountable for their lack of action and mismanagement of the San Jacinto river system and Lake Houston.
Below is information concerning a Class Action Lawsuit against the City of Houston, the SJRA, and others party to the lowering of Lake Conroe. The LOLC Board is providing this information to you for your knowledge and use. We will provide you updates on actions and information we may receive for your information and use in the future.
As a POA we cannot participate in this Class Action or any legal action in this regard as it would open up our POA to litigation from others. Something we cannot risk which is why we will only provide information so you, as individuals, may act on or not. The choice is yours.
Kind regards, Michael
E. Michael White
LOLC POA President
And your LOLC Board
Information obtained / copied from NEXT DOOR:
LAKE LOWERING CLASS ACTION SUIT
Hello all. Today, Natali Ormiston, her attorney and lake front property owner Ted Rumke and I met to discuss the creation of a class action suit against the Houston City Council, the SJRA and others who are interested in lowering Lake Conroe.
Ted has agreed to gather a group of litigators specializing in class action suits to handle our case. These would be people skilled in arguing our case at these Lake meetings and in court without emotion in order to win for our side. It is time for a surgical strike.
This class action suit would represent our HOAs and individuals who are lake front property owners. It would place the matter before the courts and, if necessary, would be escalated to the Texas Supreme Court or even higher. This would take it out of the hands of those who benefit financially from siding with Houston, Mayor Turner, the Houston city council and the politically appointed SJRA.
With people like Houston City Council member Dave Martin who recently claimed that Lake Conroe is not the residents’ of Lake Conroe but Houston’s and the Houston City Council! This depicts the hubris this polit-bureau holds against those of us who stand against their self-serving interests.
Mr. Martin further stated that the upcoming February 20th meeting will impose a mandatory lowering of Lake Conroe. In other words, none of us have a say in the matter. With legal representation via this class action suit, an injunction can be imposed to stop them in their tracks, at least temporarily until a court hears the matter.
I urge you to consider this class action suit to be our best strategy to fight them. Otherwise, they will continue to pick us off one by one at these meetings.
If our class action suit wins, they will pay damages. We are talking millions if not billions in damages. These damages would cover things like the erosion of our properties, our bulkheads, and the high-jacking of our property rights and property values.
