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Council awards $5.96 million Graeber Road storm‑sewer contract after residents press for design details
Summary
Council approved Resolution 3946 to award a $5.964 million contract for the Graeber Road storm‑sewer phase of the CDBG‑MIT grant. Nearby homeowners urged the city to preserve trees and address mosquitoes, noise and property‑value concerns; engineers said the design is for dry storage and that landscaping can follow construction.
The Rosenberg City Council voted to accept staff’s recommendation and award bid #2025‑39B for the Graeber Road storm‑sewer improvements (CDBG‑MIT Activity 5) to C.E. Baker LTD for $5,964,040.50.
Residents from Pecan Park Drive and adjacent neighborhoods turned out during public comment to press for more information about the project’s scope and impacts. Joe Boswell, who lives at 316 Pecan Park Drive, said his family learned only recently that the work could remove trees near their home: "We were pretty shocked that we had not been informed," Boswell said. His wife, Kathy Cross, a real‑estate agent, warned that removing the forested buffer could lower property values and questioned assumptions in the drainage study, noting trees store water: "a single tree can store 100 gallons of water or more," she said.
City staff and the project engineer told council the project is part of a larger, multi‑phase CDBG‑MIT grant the city has pursued for several years and that environmental and engineering plans were submitted to the Texas GLO as part of grant requirements. Project staff said the feature planned near some homes is a dry detention design with engineered channels to prevent standing water—intended to reduce mosquito risk—and that the contractor will provide a schedule and area‑by‑area plan after the notice to proceed. "It's gonna end up being a dry pond because it's gonna have potted channels at the bottom to to make sure it doesn't hold water," Rigo (staff) said when answering residents' concerns.
Council voted unanimously to approve Resolution No. 3946 to authorize negotiation and execution of the construction contract for this phase. Staff said construction will be scheduled after the contractor submits a mobilization plan and that city staff will present a broader public presentation on all grant phases at a follow‑up meeting to answer resident questions about design, tree removal, landscaping and long‑term maintenance.
The contract award authorizes work on the Graber Road storm trunk system intended to move storm flows toward Dry Creek and reduce flooding near Graeber Road and Avenue N; staff said the project is included in the FY2026 capital improvement plan.
