KILLEEN, Texas — A multi-phase residential subdivision is being built off State Highway 195, also known as Fort Hood Street, in Killeen. Although far from complete, it's already creating some concerns for those who drive by and see the progress.
Greg Garrett has lived in the Bell County area for several decades. His route to run errands often includes driving by the property where Victory Ranch is being constructed.
Recently, he said he noticed that after heavy Central Texas showers, there's been many drainage ditches filled with rainfall. Garrett told 6 News that he started to wonder if the new development was properly equipped to handle the excessive amount of runoff it will have once the hundreds of homes are complete.
He was primarily worried about the hazards that could come to the high-traveled SH-195.
"It's 60 miles an hour here, you've got people trying to go out, people trying to come in," Garrett described. "You got water coming down the road, it's a recipe for not good."
Garrett reached out to 6 News to share his concerns about the runoff and was hoping we could find out if the developers and City of Killeen engineer have already figured out how to mitigate the runoff.
“My hope is that some engineer has already thought about it and that something, a big drainage thing, something is gonna go in, you know, right before where it comes down to the severe downslope here," Garrett said. "Something to divert the water, the force of the water from going out there on the highway. That's my concern. Is the water going out on the highway?"
6 News tracked down the individual who would know the answer to Garrett's concerns. That individual is Andrew Zagars, the City of Killeen's engineer. He told 6 News that Garrett's concerns are valid from the eye, but they've already outlined a way to mitigate future runoff.
"There'll be a detention pond in the front corner and there's also another one the backside because this whole land kind of has an arch to it, Zagars explained. "It all kind of funnels to the front and in the back."
Zagars said the detention ponds will slow runoff down enough as it travels to the ditches. It's a way for them to "control the amount of water that's going to go into the ditches at one time," Zagars added.
The engineer also said it's his department's job to ensure all developers follow standards and codes of the city, including traffic and drainage. He did tell 6 News that his department is working on updating the city's drainage standards as they were last updated in 2012.
"We're looking at drainage, the runoff that they're generating, and how are they're controlling it," Zagars added. "Are they doing the detention, are they meeting our standards, and also our development group is looking at how the subdivisions are laid out and looking at architectural standards of how the houses look and trying to look at connectivity and kind of the whole grand scheme of everything."
The Victory Ranch subdivision is far from having several hundred homes occupied, so it won't be clear how effective the detention ponds will be in this project until then.