We request that Harris County and the City of Houston take the following steps:

1. Redirect the $250,000 in tax payer funds allotted for the engineering study targeted for the area between Eldridge Parkway and Wilcrest in Terry Hershey Park to an engineering study of the Clodine Regional Detention Basin and its potential positive impact for downstream Buffalo Bayou.

2. Harris County, the City of Houston and Fort Bend County should join in an agreement to purchase and develop the Clodine Regional Detention Basin. The City of Houston should direct the $13,000,000 toward the Clodine Regional Detention Basin to obtain the greatest return for tax payer dollars and protection from flooding for property owners.

3. Preserve and protect the remaining riparian forest and natural habitat in Terry Hershey Park.

If these steps are not taken, much of the riparian Forest that makes Terry Hershey Park special will be lost; the shade it provides in hot summer months, its habitat for birds and other wildlife, its recreational mountain biking and hiking trails in a natural area and its solace from daily urban life. The Park would be radically changed and the construction itself would necessarily involve the literal removal of thousands and thousands of cubic yards of earth from the Park. In addition, the community will lose the last opportunity for a true in-line regional detention basin benefiting the Buffalo Bayou watershed.

Please see www.briarforestsn.org for further information.