COUNTY PAYING THE PRICE FOR APPROVING SUBDIVISION

"The future cheats us from afar..."

From "They Say Hope is Happiness"

By George (Lord) Gordon Byron

By Juan Montoya
Little did Alex Dominguez know when he 23 and was working as a legal clerk at a Los Angeles law office that the seeds of his future headaches were being planted in a rural area in Cameron County just outside Brownsville in its Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction.
 If he had, he would probably have thought twice about coming back to Texas, becoming a teacher, going to law school, or running for commissioner of Precinct 2.
It was back then, 21 years ago, that a plat for a subdivision named Hacienda del Norte was submitted to the Cameron County Engineer's office. Abutting a AO flood zone (basically a depression in the ground and the least desirable place for a subdivision), it was about as borderline a development as one could get. FEMA warns communities across the country that this designation is given to "areas with high flood velocities such as alluvial fans and washes. Communities are encouraged to adopt more restrictive requirements for these areas."
FEMA also makes the purchase of flood insurance in these areas mandatory.
Nonetheless, at the time County Judge Tony Garza put his John Hancock on the dotted line as did engineer Juan Bernal and approved the subdivision which is just south of the intersection of FM 1421 and FM 1732. Carlos Cascos, now Texas Secretary of State, was the commissioner for Pct. 2 at the time.
The fact that one of the developers of Quinta-Anita Inc. who submitted the plat was Ricky Cardenas – son of Renato Cardenas, of Cardenas Development fame (or infamy) with his considerable political influence – might have had something to do with the approval.
Over time, Cascos, John Wood, Ernie Hernandez and now Dominguez had to spend considerable time and county resources assisting those unwary buyers of lots in the subdivision to deal with chronic flooding in their homes. Throw in the fact that a health hazard resulted because of the use of on-site sanitary sewer systems (septic tanks) and the pieces were all there for the ensuing disaster that development was to become.
Not only Garza, but Gilbert Hinojosa as county judge signed off on the subsequent subdivision phases.
Because the development abutted the flood plain, Cardenas had to include retention ponds in his plat. There were four phases to the Hacienda Del Norte subdivision. And while Phase 1 was next to the flood zone, the other three phases (1997, 200, 2002),  were smack in the middle of it.
Interestingly, both retention ponds were outside the flood plain, meaning that water would have to travel upward to reach them. If you look at the plat map above, the blue line indicates the edge of Flood Zone AO and the two blue rectangles are the retention ponds. FM 1421 runs at the top of the map. The FM 1421-FM 1732 intersection is just north of the plat (to the right on the map). (Click on graphic to enlarge).
In the second graphic, the AO zone (dark blue) is clearly visible and covers most of the last three phases of the subdivision.
Cardenas convinced the county that if he connected both retention ponds with a pump that would carry the water from the second retention pond (in Phase II) to the pond in Phase I, the flooding could be managed. What he didn't tell them was that the pumps he installed were inadequate to handle the volume of water and transport it from one pond to the other which just happened to be up a notch in elevation. The plat clearly states that he was required use fill dirt to raise the elevation of the entire subdivision by one inch. That was never done.
Additionally, all the homes to be built there had to be at least one foot to 18 inches atop the inch of fill that was never placed. The deed also restrict dwellings to be made of masonry and prohibits the use of trailer homes under a certain size. Trailer homes that qualify also are required to have skirting on the bottom and no commercial activity is allowed. All those restrictions have been ignored. In fact, there has never been a homeowners' association in existence in the subdivision.

There was a further complication. The receiving pond (in Phase 1) also had a pump to carry the water away from the subdivision. The only hitch there was that there was no drainage district ditch where to dump the water. When the pump worked (which is rarely), it merely spreads the water into nearby farmers' fields or into the nearest irrigation ditch. In other words, the system has become a quagmire. There is nowhere for the flood waters to go.
Local farmers have also become wary of allowing the county to pump water into their fields because of the heavy metals and contaminants that might be included in the septic tank runoff that drains into the ponds.
When the residents (low-income Hispanics who plunked down between $17,000 to $24,000 for a lot) complained to Cardenas, he said that their deed clearly stated that they were responsible for maintaining the pumps and the retention ponds and had agreed to form a homeowners association with power to impose a lien of property owners who did not contribute to their maintenance. In other words, it was their baby now, not his.
Many of the residents had never even seen their deeds, Dominguez found out.
"They didn't even know that they had to form an association," he said, "much less that they had to pay for the maintenance of the pumps or the retention ponds."
Over time, without maintenance and inadequate pumps, the retention pond in Phase I turned into what resembles a wetlands wildlife refuge.(See photos at left. Click on graphics to enlarge).
Clearing it of overgrowth (trees now) and organic material would be an extremely costly and time-consuming endeavor, something beyond the ability of the county, or perhaps even the state, to clear.
"All we need now is for the Parks and Wildlife people to find some rare species there and prevent anyone from clearing it," Dominguez said.
The pond in Phase II (see graphic at right) is merely a lake that covers about five subdivision lots.There is a touch of cruel perversion evident in Cardenas' naming of the streets in the subdivision.
The main thoroughfare (rural grade) is called Laguna Seca (Dry Lake) and there is a Lago Road (Lake) and a Laguna Escondida (Hidden Lake).
It isn't until there is a heavy downpour that the cruel joke played upon the buyers of property there becomes obvious. The hidden lake reappears and the once-dry lake becomes full again. Another road there is called Pelon. (As in "esta pelon.")
It's not an issue that is going to go away soon. Flooding will always be a problem, as will the health hazard of septic tanks overflowing. And with no one to turn to and no legal remedy available to them, the residents will come knocking for help at the door of the precinct 2 commissioner.
"We tell them that we only able to provide them with temporary assistance," said Zeke Silva, his administrative assistant. "There is a critical need to find a permanent solution to this and we are trying to find one."
It's probably a good thing that Dominguez has no hair on his head. He'd probably have pulled it all off by now if he did.