Texas Administrative Code › Title 30 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Part 1 - TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 301 - LEVEE IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS, DISTRICT PLANS OF RECLAMATION, AND LEVEES AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS › Subchapter C - APPROVAL OF LEVEES AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS › Section 301.34 - Criteria For Approval of Preliminary Plans

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The commission shall use the following criteria and those
					 listed in §
										301.33(b)
					 of this title (relating to Preliminary Plans: Data To Be Submitted) in the
					 review and consideration of applications for approval of plans for levees and
					 other improvements.
(1) Structural
				  integrity. Construction must be based upon sound engineering principles.
				  Structural integrity must withstand any waters which the levee or other
				  improvement is intended to restrain or carry, considering all topographic
				  features, including existing levees.
(2) Compatibility with existing hydraulic
				  conditions. Plans must be compatible with the existing hydraulic conditions.
				  Consideration must be given to any possible deleterious effects, such as
				  overtopping or undermining, on any existing system of levees, channel
				  improvements, landfills, structures, or similar improvements, or on adjacent
				  properties. With regard to applications for approval of levees or landfills,
				  plans will be evaluated with a consideration of comparable levee or landfill
				  development on the opposite side of a stream if such do not exist but are
				  plausible.
(3) Safety. Any proposed
				  levee or other improvement must be designed so that it will not increase
				  flooding or divert waters in such a way that any person's life or property will
				  be endangered or subjected to significantly increased flooding. The commission
				  shall not approve plans for levees or other improvements which will
				  significantly increase flood rises on any person's land without that person's
				  consent or which will endanger life or property or create a public
				  hazard.
(4) Rights of third parties
				  to be protected. The rights of third parties affected by a proposed levee or
				  other improvement must be considered. Before approval, the commission shall
				  accordingly give full consideration to the rights of all such parties not
				  otherwise considered under paragraphs (1)-(3) of this subsection.
(5) The commission and the executive director
				  shall assure that, as far as possible, levees or other improvements shall be
				  designed with primary consideration to the topographic and hydrographic
				  conditions, and in such a manner that each division of a project shall be a
				  complete, united project forming a coordinate part of an ultimately finished
				  series of projects, so constituted that the successful operation of each united
				  project shall coordinate with the successful operation of other projects within
				  the same hydraulic influence.
(6)
				  In addition, a minimum freeboard of three feet above the 100-year design flood
				  hydraulic gradient should be provided where levees furnish protection for
				  urbanized or developing areas. A minimum freeboard of two feet above the
				  100-year design flood hydraulic gradient, or more frequent flood as may be
				  determined under §
										301.33
				  of this title (relating to Preliminary Plans: Data To Be Submitted), should be
				  provided where levees furnish protection for agricultural areas. Reaches of the
				  levee which may be affected by wave buildup from structural features of the
				  project shall require supplemental study to determine if greater freeboard
				  should be provided.