Resident says Harris County partners will proceed with Myrtlewood‑area detention basin; recounts exclusion from meeting

Don Johnson, a Friendswood resident who identified himself as living on Myrtlewood, addressed the council during public comment on Aug. 25 about a detention basin project near his home. Johnson said he and neighbors had been heavily involved in advancing the project, which residents view as flood mitigation. He told the council he became concerned in recent weeks when grading work appeared to stop and when he heard critical remarks from drainage‑district officials about the project. He said he attended an Aug. 15 Harris County meeting with the four project partners but that the drainage district’s general manager told him to leave a hallway and said he was not invited. Johnson said that after the meeting the partners “came to some kind of agreement” and that the project would move forward in a reduced scope as “the bare basic project” providing about 700 acre‑feet of detention. He said he had not seen the final agreement but that Harris County had joined the project and that the detention basin would help lower flood risk in Friendswood. Johnson concluded his remarks by thanking the partners and the council. The council did not take formal action during public comment. Staff or the drainage district did not respond on the record during the meeting; Johnson’s account is his own public comment on the record.