Opinion

Will Harvey lead to new thinking about area development?

Houston is losing land cover - places like the Katy Prairie - which helps reduce flooding photographed Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in Waller. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle ) Houston is losing land cover - places like the Katy Prairie - which helps reduce flooding photographed Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in Waller. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Steve Gonzales Photo: Steve Gonzales Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Will Harvey lead to new thinking about area development? 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

Even before Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, the chorus of online scolding had begun.

"Houston will pay a high price for paving over its flood plains with sprawl," Kriston Capps, a writer for CityLab, tweeted Friday afternoon as forecasters struggled to come up with adjectives -- unprecedented, unimaginable, apocalyptic -- to describe the deluge expected in the Houston area.

It's tough to capture nuance in 140 characters, and Capps' tweet failed to convey the complexity of the factors that make Greater Houston vulnerable to catastrophic floods. The role of development, however, is worthy of attention because, at least theoretically, we have the power to do something about it.

We can't make Houston less flat or change its weather, although steps to slow the pace of climate change could make a difference over the long term. What we can do is rethink how and where we build the houses, shopping centers and parking lots that deflect water rather than absorb it.

Single-family homes on big lots far from the city core -- mostly in unincorporated areas where few regulations apply -- represent the predominant form of development in the Houston area. The Katy Prairie, which produces grass that soaks up water like little sponges, lies to the west of the city in the hottest suburban market.

While urban development has enjoyed a resurgence, families still flock to subdivisions and master-planned communities for affordable homes on relatively cheap land. And the area's leaders generally embrace the conventional wisdom that a loosely regulated, market-driven system enables the region to grow and flourish.

Up to now, policy changes aimed at reducing flooding have amounted to little more than tinkering around the edges. And even that has been difficult.

In 2006, the Houston City Council banned new development on vacant land in floodways. These are the areas closest to the channels of bayous and streams, where flood risks are highest - flood plains on steroids, if you will.

But the city retreated two years later, relaxing the new rules in the face of fierce resistance from owners whose property values plummeted as a result of the ban. The struggle over this relatively modest step illustrates the enormous challenge of undertaking broader changes on a regional scale.

Defenders of the Houston model often cite the value of requirements for stormwater retention to offset runoff. "Banning new development or impermeable surfaces is not the answer," says Tory Gattis, a senior fellow at the Center for Opportunity Urbanism.

Yet skepticism about the effectiveness of such measures, which are inconsistent across the region, is growing. And pressure to do something --- anything - increases as one catastrophic flood after another pummels neighborhoods from Clear Lake to Conroe: Memorial Day 2015. Tax Day 2016. Memorial Day 2016. And now Harvey, which produced a flood anointed as the worst in the city's history days before it was expected to end.

Will this be he storm that finally leads to new ways of thinking about how Houston should grow?

"This is one of those events that will precipitate change," said Jim Blackburn, a Houston attorney specializing in environmental matters. "To some extent the question is, how open are our elected officials going to be to hearing messages that in the past they have not wanted to hear?"

Messages like the need to apply tougher rules not just to new developments, but also to redevelopment of existing properties. Or to consider the impacts of climate change on flooding. Or to preserve the flood-absorbing wetlands and native prairies that haven't already been paved over.

Failure to act boldly, Blackburn argues, could imperil Houston's future. Worldwide images of a paralyzed city, with terrified residents plucked from rooftops by rescuers, could make it harder for vital industries to attract skilled workers.

"This is the time," said Blackburn, "that we can make or break the future of Houston."

For now, of course, the region's leaders are properly focused on the immediate crisis. Recovery from this storm will take years. Sometime soon, though, we must begin to challenge our most comfortable assumptions and pay attention to those messages our leaders don't want to hear. We ignore them at our peril.