Commissioners hire outside engineers to review Brazos River subdivision over floodway concerns

The court approved hiring Barrett Hampton & Brown to provide expert floodplain and floodway engineering for the River Ranch subdivision on the Brazos River after staff and the firm explained FEMA base flood elevation discrepancies and potential future higher water surfaces.

"We know from that that the water is already higher than what our current map shows," Shannon Ape said, noting FEMA’s updated mapping near the Hood-Parker county line shows higher elevations and that a recently completed but not-yet-effective FEMA study indicates still greater water surfaces. Ape and county permitting staff said adding a third-party review will help determine the minimum finish-floor elevation and identify risks associated with velocity and debris impact in the floodway.

Developers and local representatives told the court they had already paid for multi-month hydrology and water studies and asked for a timely review. "We have a full engineer water study we spent months doing, paid for it," said Ashley McCormick, who provided a study by Trevino Water Engineering; Court Johnson asked that review timelines be predictable. County staff responded the outside review is intended to validate and, if necessary, coordinate with developers’ stamped engineering, and said turnaround targets (five days for approvals in some cases) would be used to avoid unnecessary delays.

Commissioner Connolly moved to approve the engagement, citing public safety and long-term risk mitigation; the motion passed 5-0. Staff will work to review developers' submitted studies first and quickly address any conflicts so construction is not delayed unnecessarily.