For immediate release
FLOODING, RAW SEWAGE AND VIOLENT CRIME ARE JUST A FEW OF THE CONCERNS THAT COMMUNITY MEMBERS SAY THEY ARE FACING AT TWO LOCAL DEVELOPMENTS – NOW THEY ARE BANDING TOGETHER TO TAKE ON THE DEVELOPER.
July 29, 2021 HOUSTON – Flooding. Raw sewage pouring out of the ground. Sex crimes. Drunk drivers. Thugs on loose. Criminal, mob-boss like behavior on the part of the powers that be.
Sounds like the makings of a post-apocalyptic horror story, right?
A group of rapidly organizing citizens says it’s all part of their day-to-day life at Terrenos and Colony Ridge, a housing development outside of Houston that is home to a primarily immigrant community.
People who bought houses in the two communities say they are struggling to stay afloat (sometimes quite literally) amid what are described as horrific living conditions put in place by the developer, a Houston real estate mogul named John Harris. They are now banding together to bring awareness to a myriad of problems plaguing these largely Latino communities.
Among the claims: Harris and his team are selling flood-prone lands to people without disclosing that fact. In fact, the company does not disclose the flooding issues anywhere during their sales process, citizens claim.
“We’ve had countless of people crying out to us for help due to the lakes of water on their properties when it rains. People tell us ‘They (Harris & Co.) also told us our land was in a no-flood zone (and when) the first rain arrived our land looked like a pool.’”
“We’ve also heard ‘When it rains my ditches flood and even when it doesn’t rain, it always has pooled water.’ And yet another: They told me it doesn’t flood and that’s a lie: Half of my land looks like a lagoon and I’ve added like 20 truckloads of dirt and it still floods…’”
The neighboring City of Plum Grove has been fighting the county of Liberty to stop Harris’ company from continuing to develop ruthlessly without proper management of their sewage. City officials have brought to the county countless of environmental issues that they say being violated by this self-proclaimed developer. Yet the county keeps approving the platting of land, the citizen group notes.
And believe it or not, flooding is at the more pleasant end of the spectrum. One citizen wrote on social media recently:
“THOUSANDS OF GALLONS OF RAW SEWAGE (ARE) BEING DUMPED OUT ON THE GROUND WHICH IS NOT ONLY DISGUSTING BUT WE ALSO WORRY THAT IT WILL EVENTUALLY END UP IN OUR WATER SYSTEM SINCE EVERYONE OUT HERE HAS THEIR OWN WATER WELL.”
Multiple sources have told us the company stalks and intimidates anyone who complains at the conditions, Scientology style, according to organizers.
We’ve also had sources tell us that because people from this company believe in Santería, it is a common practice for them to throw dead animals at people’s yards and perform rituals against them. “It is their belief that spirits are going to help then stop opposition.”
Now it’s starting to sound like something from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil but in this case it’s more like Midnight in the Garbage Dump of Good and Evil.
Citizens say they feel like they have a good case against John Harris & Co. because, among many other things, real estate law in Texas was modified after hurricane Harvey to state that sellers MUST disclose if the property they are selling floods, has flooded, or is in a flood zone.
“This is a grassroots effort to help educate the public and at least prevent future,” explains one of the organizers. “We need this to stop and we are hoping to involve the federal government and the media so that action is taken that prevents this from happening ever again. On behalf of all the families impacted by this wrongdoing and those who may be impacted by this in the future we are demanding that this stop now.”
Spanish
Its Liberty County, not the county of Cleveland.
And we aren’t the surrounding city (of Plum Grove), we are the small city of Plum Grove next door that’s been destroyed by Terrenos and Colony Ridge developments that are surrounding us in fact!
Thank you, Michael. We made some corrections.
Pretty accurate description of some of the problems, but don’t forget us here in Montgomery county, as well. We have a Colony Ridge development, too- King’s Colony, and it has made our community into a crime ridden, third world dump.
Thank you for reaching out. We are posting more on King’s Colony as we continued to learn about it. E-mail us with anything you’d like to expose.
Thank you guys for taking the time and initiative to create this site and do investigative work. I had some pictures of conditions in King’s Colony, including a massive illegal trash dump, a “bar” being run out of what looks like a private residence, sewage discharge, and dead livestock that had been dumped on a public road. I’ll see if I still have them and email to you, or I’ll try to go get some more.
Thank you! The community appreciates your efforts, and I have more people who will share their stories with you.