HOUSTON CITY HALL -- In a touch of irony, the Houston City Council's vote to relax the city's controversial floodway rules came as a forecast of heavy rain hung overhead.

The original rules, which took effect in 2006, bar any construction or major home improvement in land along bayous that are prone to flooding. Today's vote effectively reverses that decision -- with the caveat that the city must approve of new construction, inspect it regularly, and that new buildings in the floodway must be elevated.

The "floodway ordinance" was designed to discourage further building along those bayous. According to the Public Works Department, debris from structures washed away during a storm tend to block drainage downstream, which worsens flooding for residents upstream. That's why the city council originally voted to ban all improvements of existing structures in the floodway -- stopping the "encroachment" problem from getting worse.

Thousands of people own homes in those zones. Most of them say they never knew the Council was planning such a ban until days before it passed. Since the rules took effect, those residents have become better organized -- and launched an effective campaign to turn public opinion against the ordinance. Just last week, HCAD notified the residents that their buildings are now worth just 10 percent of what they were a year ago.

Today's revision seeks to satisfy the needs of (a) the residents who say their rights have been infringed and (b) FEMA, which has been encouraging the city to be more proactive in its flood-control efforts. (as a side note, the more the city does, the more likely it becomes that FEMA would lower the flood-insurance rates for all Houstonians)

The revisions would allow construction along the floodway as long as it follows some guidelines: namely, that structures be built on piers a foot or two above ground level, and that the plans be first approved by the city -- and then the finished structure must be re-inspected every year. There would be a recurring fee for all this. The goal would be to build structures that could withstand flooding.

After weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the City Council passed the changes with little discussion.

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