Frequently Asked Questions

FBCLID 2 FAQs

General LID FAQs

What is a Levee Improvement District (LID) and what does it do?
Fort Bend County Levee Improvement District No. 2 (FBCLID #2) is 1 of 19 major LID systems in Fort Bend County that provide flood and storm water management resources to those who reside or conduct business in the geographic area protected by the LIDs. FBC LID #2 provides protection to major portions of Sugar Land including:

  • Sugar Land Town Square
  • Sugar Land City Hall
  • Major hospitals and medical facilities (Methodist and St. Lukes Hospitals)
  • Major retail centers and businesses (Marriott Hotel, Minute Maid, Fluor & First Colony Mall)
  • Over 9,000 homes in First Colony
  • Major transportation infrastructure (U.S. Hwy 59 & State Hwy 6)
  • Total assessed taxable value of protected assets – approximately $5 billion

What do the LID’s in Fort Bend County protect and how do they operate?
In addition to the more than than 99 miles of levees managed by all of the Fort Bend County LID systems, the multiple districts also provide protection with other related flood control works that include:

  • More than 20 miles of internal drainage ditches and channels that collect and convey storm water run-off;
  • Outfall structures where internal storm water drainage is discharged outside of the levee;
  • Pump stations (electric facilities that pump the interior rainfall outside the levee during a flood event and do so with electrical power that is completely independent of the public power grid)
  • Flap gates and sluice gates (sliding gates to control water flow from the community to the river),
  • Detention ponds (reservoirs that store water over brief periods of time until the drainage ditches and channels have the capacity for ordinary flow)
  • Retention ponds (artificial lakes that include a permanent pool of water and space to retain excess water).

Who sets the standards for operations of levees?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set standards that guide the construction, maintenance and operations of LID’s.

Levee systems must meet and continue to meet minimum design, operation, and maintenance requirements to receive recognition by FEMA under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as providing protection from the 100-year flood on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM’s).

Levees and other related flood control works in Fort Bend County have been engineered and constructed to the highest national and local standards. In addition to being accredited by FEMA under the NFIP, Fort Bend County imposes additional requirements that generally allow the levee systems to achieve protection against a 250-year flood or greater.

Levee systems and other related flood control works in Fort Bend County are adopted and maintained during normal and emergency conditions to the highest national standards pursuant to each Levee District’s adopted Operation and Maintenance Manuals that incorporate the guidelines of FEMA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

How are LIDs funded?
Levee Districts in Fort Bend County are funded by local ad valorem property taxes.

Property taxes pay for the bonds that are used to finance the design and construction of the levee systems and other related flood control works. Levee Districts in Fort Bend County spend more than $12,000,000 annually to operate and maintain the levee systems and other related flood control works, as well as to carry out their other regular business. Fort Bend County levee systems have not previously received and do not currently receive any federal money to construct, operate and maintain their levees or other flood control works.