A Look Back – Creating the Opportunity for Valley Ranch

If you’ve been following WaterWays during our first year of e-publication, the one thing you’re likely to have noticed is that IFCD 3 is always looking forward. The board that sets the direction and the staff responsible for operating and maintaining the District’s equipment and facilities are continually pursuing the most effective and efficient means of controlling water resulting from major storms in the area.

Those who have lived or worked elsewhere and been potentially subjected to flooding may be wondering why those previous places didn’t have a flood control district and Valley Ranch does.

Initially, the answer was simple… until it wasn’t. Up until the second half of the 20th century, the area north of what is now LBJ Freeway in the northeast quadrant of Irving was ranch land. Following construction of DFW International Airport in the 1970s, the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex experienced dramatic growth in the number of businesses and residences in the area. The proximity of Irving to the new airport made the city an increasingly attractive area for office, residential and retail development to meet this demand.

However, there was a catch. Most of the land in far-northeast Irving was designated as a flood plain, placing any structures built there at risk for damage or destruction from high waters from the Elm Fork of the Trinity River during heavy storms.

One solution might have been for property owners to purchase an annual, federally insured flood insurance policy needed to protect mortgagors providing funds for buildings to be constructed and occupied or used in the area. While insurance would have removed much of the financial risk, owners or occupants still would have seen use of their property be disrupted by flooding and, potentially, experiencing costs not covered by the required flood insurance.

Fortunately, visionaries saw an alternative to ongoing flood insurance policies. By constructing a system of waterways, water holding facilities, pumps and sluice gates to control excess water in the area, flood waters could be controlled, providing a more productive solution. Commissioning of a flood control district by the Texas Legislature in 1983 enabled the design, engineering and construction of facilities by the newly created Irving Flood Control District Section III. With taxpayers in the District investing in proactive flood control, the federal government removed the flood plain designation from Valley Ranch. This paved the way for the highly desirable business, retail and residential community that exists today.

Continue to follow WaterWays for more stories of innovation by IFCD 3 in delivering flood control in Valley Ranch, built on a foundation created nearly 40 years ago.