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Residents press floodplain safety concerns as engineers say FEMA review is required
Summary
Residents urged denial over floodplain and floodway safety; the applicant's engineer said reclamation would require FEMA floodplain development permit review and that modeling and mitigation (gabions, piles, walls) are part of the process, which can take 8 months to a year.
Several residents who live near Mary's Creek urged the commission to deny the rezoning, saying the floodplain and floodway should be preserved and raising technical concerns about flash‑flood timing and FEMA reviews. Ashley Nave described alleged trespassing by surveyors and a drone incident and urged the commission not to accept data collected during those events.
"The flood plain along Mary's Creek should be preserved and protected, not developed," Ashley Nave said, and she described two alleged trespass incidents and an FAA complaint; she also reported the Benbrook Police Department had issued a trespass warning to the company involved. Residents also questioned FEMA's capacity to evaluate complex flood timing and flash‑flood scenarios.
The applicant's engineer, Ron Ramirez, said a floodplain development permit and detailed engineering models are required and that the applicant must submit those to FEMA and the city. Ramirez said engineering mitigation measures (gabion baskets, piles, specialized walls) would be evaluated and that the FEMA review process can take "8 months to a year." He added that, if approved, some existing homes on the other side of the creek could be removed from the floodplain under the proposed mitigation.
