LUMBERTON, Texas — A piece of land on the outskirts of Lumberton may look like the perfect place for a new neighborhood.
It's right across from the city park on FM 421, but neighbors say not so fast. They fear the new neighborhood will make flooding worse.
Hardin County commissioners picked the perfect night to discuss this. Rainy days like Tuesday only made neighbors' worries seem stronger. They fear this new neighborhood may put their homes under water.
Lumberton residents made it clear.
“No matter how much drainage efforts they put in,” a Lumberton resident said.
They are not for the long leaf project.
“I'm telling you, there's no one on the south side of this county who is ready to support it. It's not gonna happen,” one resident said.
A project manager wants to clear out this land on FM 421 and build new homes.
“We want to develop a master-planned community with residential, commercial and other uses,” project manager Patrick Hoffman said.
Neighbors have one real issue. They think the new neighborhood will make flooding worse.
“We've been here, and if you think we're ready for you to flood us out, if you think we're ready for you to stop us from getting back and forth to our livelihoods every day because of your traffic...” one resident said.
The land currently operates as a tree farm, which is what residents would rather it remain.
“So, what I can tell you is that as a tree farm, the trees, the roots that all helps with water management. When you remove it, little by little, that drainage in that flooding becomes worse,” one resident said.
So, as nice as growing the city of Lumberton sounds, neighbors say development comes at a cost.
“So every time you put in new construction, I was told it would be okay. Well it's not okay, and we are flooding. We were flooding bad,” one resident said.
Before leaving the meeting, residents made it clear one last time that they want better drainage not new developments.