John Paul Landing Park

Located on the northwest edge of Houston, Texas, John Paul Landing Park serves as a vibrant community space, boasting an educational center, a cricket field, hiking trails, a playground, and other amenities. The park also provides a habitat for numerous local species. And one of its most significant features, a 176-acre lake, serves as a major flood detention facility for the region.

Beginning in 2006, the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) and Engineering Department (HCED) spearheaded a series of drainage studies and digital models for the area around John Paul Landing Park. These studies looked specifically at Cypress Creek and Langham Creek, the latter of which connects directly to John Paul Lake. The county’s studies revealed that the region needed greater flood detention capacity.

To address this need, Harris County officials selected JMT to design a new stormwater wetland expansion for John Paul Lake. The design for this expansion accounted for several factors; while the primary goal was to expand the lake’s capacity for flood waters, the design also needed to supplement the park’s community outreach work through the adjacent education center, expand the park’s recreational amenities, provide additional habitat for both aquatic and land animals, and incorporate safety considerations for the park’s maintenance crew and visitors, all while maintaining the natural aesthetic of the man-made lake.

Once complete, the new basin will provide an additional 650 acre-feet of flood detention volume–roughly the same volume as 325 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

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The resulting master plan, which was a collaborative effort between JMT staff in Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida, adds a new 75-acre basin to the northern side of the lake that is hydraulically connected to both the existing lake and Langham Creek, allowing water to flow between them. The basin’s design is divided into three consecutive construction phases that each include 25-30 acres of the full design. Phases one and two are already complete, and phase three is currently under construction. Once complete, the new basin will provide an additional 650 acre-feet of flood detention volume–roughly the same volume as 325 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

 

John Paul Lake provides curved shorelines, habitat islands, and vegetative shelves to encourage wetland birds and other local species.

Natural design for people and wildlife
JMT utilized several key design parameters to achieve this volume while also addressing the other major elements of the project. Most significant for the basin’s capacity is the varying depth of the basin, with pool depths ranging between three and eight feet. The varying depth allows pollutants and sediment suspended in the water to settle while mimicking the topography of a natural wetland.

The basin’s varying depths are complemented by the inclusion of curvilinear shorelines. Besides creating a more natural aesthetic, curved shorelines provide additional surface area for the basin’s bottom shelves—flat or mildly sloped areas two feet above the water’s surface that allow for maintenance access and reduce the risk of visitors falling into the water—and vegetative shelves constructed at or up to 18 inches below the water’s surface for cultivating wetland plants.

The vegetative shelves that line the basin’s shores work together with a series of forested and shorebird habitat islands to increase the natural appearance of the basin and provide new habitat spaces. The vegetative shelves are irregularly graded to create a diversity of micro-habitats along the basin’s shores, and the habitat islands vary in elevation to create a mix of nesting (partially submerged) and foraging (dryer, sparsely vegetated) spaces for wetland birds and other local species. The islands also break up the basin visually, with each island being between 50 and 75 feet away from other islands. The spacing of the islands also increases residence time for runoff that ends up in the lake, allowing pollutants time to settle.

A diverse array of wetland plants and trees native to the Texas western gulf coastal plains help reduce erosion and filter out pollutants.

Both the vegetative shelves and habitat islands are propagated with a diverse array of wetland plants and trees native to the Texas western gulf coastal plains. These plants help reduce erosion and filter out pollutants brought into the lake by flood waters and runoff.

While providing spaces for local plants and animals, the design team also outlined approximately 10 acres of the new basin to be used as educational programming space. This area of the project, called Discovery Cove, is near the park’s education center and includes representative portions of each habitat included in the design. The Discovery Cove is also set up to accommodate special programming and new features like a floating boardwalk, observation tower, floating kayak launch, and others, which Harris County may add later.

The basin was also designed to create new recreational opportunities for adventurous parkgoers. The basin’s layout allows for water trails and small watercraft like kayaks, canoes, and other small boats, and the design also includes space for hiking and biking trails.

To accommodate all the visitors to the basin, as well as maintenance crews working at the water’s edge, JMT incorporated numerous safety considerations into the design. In addition to the bottom shelves that provide access for maintenance work and reduce the risk of accidental falls into the water, the slopes along the basin’s edge are gradual, no more than a 3:1 ratio–three units of height for every one unit of distance. A 30-foot-wide maintenance berm is provided that also incorporates ADA-compliant hiking and biking trails.

Hiking and biking trails allow the public to enjoy the scenic beauty of John Paul Lake.

Addressing environmental challenges
With so many goals converging in the basin’s design, JMT also had to lay out a comprehensive plan to reduce impacts to the park and surrounding watershed during the basin’s construction. The project was designed to be constructed in individual phases to tackle a central challenge: maintaining connectivity between the existing lake and Langham Creek. Given the lake’s role in the local watershed, the construction of the new basin could not interfere with the flow of water. Phase two presented a distinct challenge as it required a temporary relocation of a portion of Langham Creek. To address this issue, JMT planned the construction to include a temporary channel until the creek could be restored to its original location.

Phase two design incorporated a temporary relocation of part of Langham Creek into the construction, including a temporary channel, until the creek could be restored to its original location.

The flow of water in the area and the lake’s role as a stormwater detention facility also created challenges for propagating wetland plants in the basin. While many of the plants could be at least partially submerged, it was possible that changing water levels would inundate some of the plants and prevent them from taking root. The first 90 days after planting are critical, so the team is utilizing a combination of temporary berms and pumps to control the amount of water entering the area and prevent water levels from rising too high during that period. Once the most sensitive plants are successfully established, the berms can be breached, the grading in the surrounding area finalized, and remaining plantings in the breach area finally planted.

The habitat islands raised their own unique concerns about planting and arrangement. Trees intended as nesting habitat needed to be placed away from high traffic areas of the basin—ideally 300 feet away. The depth of the water around the island was also important, with at least one-and-a-half feet of water being preferred to reduce the access of nest predators. The team therefore had to balance the precise spacing requirements for the islands with the aim of making the islands look like they were naturally occurring.

The unpredictability of nature led to further challenges that emerged during the first two project phases. Some of the plants originally included in the design had to be substituted, necessitating close collaboration between the design team, county representatives, and contractors during construction. Further, the potential for droughts and floods threatened the propagation of plants along the basin’s shores.

Animals have also posed a challenge, as the local wildlife has not been content to wait until construction of the new habitat is complete. Beavers and nutria damaged newly planted wetland plants and trees, and alligators threatened the safety of contractors at work on the site. The team used wire nets and tree trunk wraps to mitigate damage to the plants, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department evaluated the site to identify alligator entry and exit points. They also provided general safety procedures and recommendations for proactive monitoring of alligators onsite. These measures helped to prevent harm to humans and animals alike.

Through careful planning and close collaboration with Harris County officials, contractors, and other stakeholders, JMT has tackled these and other challenges. The final phase of the project is expected to be completed in February 2025. JMT is proud to have designed this basin to serve the needs of the Houston area community.