Summary and background: Bee Creek in Emerald Forest has never looked this bad. No one has been maintaining the Emerald Forest Bee Creek drainage easement for the last 4-6 years or more. As a result, Bee Creek has 4-6 year old trees growing through the middle of the creek bed and creek side. These newly growing trees and brush continue to collect debris and sediment which is compounding the problem. The flow of water has been slowed greatly due to the vegetation that has grown over the past 4-6 years, water no longer flows through Bee Creek in Emerald Forest like it used to and should, instead it spreads out. It spreads out and is flooding homes and properties at an increasing rate, like never before.

Adding greatly to this problem is the City of College Station's new development upstream of the Emerald Forest Bee Creek flooding. This development has increased the amount of water Bee Creek has to drain. In the past 8 years, the development of the parcel of land where Keller Williams is located has added to the amount of watershed that Bee Creek must drain. And there is more land for sale right next to Keller Williams.

Also, in 2010 the City of College Station completed a Capital Channel Improvement Project along Bee Creek to the west of Texas Ave. This project was done because homes were being flooded along Bee Creek west of Texas Avenue. In this project, the City of College Station, per Alan Gibbs, purchased drainage easement from private property owners to complete the channel improvements and stop the flooding. We are wanting the City of College Station to do the same for Emerald Forest. We are wanting the City to purchase drainage easement from private property owners along Bee Creek in Emerald Forest, we are wanting the creek channel cleared and improved so that homes don't continue being flooded at an increasing rate.

Until drainage easement along Bee Creek in Emerald Forest is purchased by the City, cleared and improved (as was done for homeowners along Bee Creek west of Texas Ave.) we do not want any additional nearby development upstream of Bee Creek. Additional development will mean more water for Bee Creek to drain and Bee Creek in its current state cannot handle anymore watershed from upstream development. We are not against development we are simply against nearby upstream development that will destroy our homes and properties by way of flooding.

Action: We the homeowners of Emerald Forest urge College Station City Council NOT to approve rezoning the Corsair parcel of land from Light Industrial to General Commercial for the Wingate Hotel development. Any change in rezoning would definitely result in immediate, increased and more dense development and Bee Creek is in absolutely no shape to absorb additional watershed that will result from this major increase in development. Keeping this small parcel of land Light Industrial will mean much slower development and will allow time for this drainage problem to hopefully be resolved and fixed. It is irresponsible, it is neglectful and it certainly does not seem legal for the City to intentionally and knowingly rezone land where immediate development will result and will immediately add to a major drainage problem along Bee Creek in Emerald Forest. Please save the Emerald Forest neighborhood and do not rezone this small parcel of land at this time; please wait until the extremely poor drainage of Bee Creek is fixed and corrected.