I walk my dog in a section of land that is slowly being converted from second (third?) growth forest to a neighborhood. They are doing the same thing. Cut ever

I walk my dog in a section of land that is slowly being converted from second (third?) growth forest to a neighborhood. They are doing the same thing. Cut everything down, reshape the land, build houses, plant a ceremonial sappling. Every time they expand the area that houses are built on, the amount of runoff increases massively. It's very clear that most of the water is coming only from the areas that have been "developed". The unmolested land is very capable of absorbing the amount of water that comes down. This year they had to completely redo their flood/runoff drainage area and ditch system after they cleared another bunch of land and filled it in with a bunch of sandy fill. Must have cost 6-7 figures. No idea why they can't selectively harvest, and work with the existing topsoil.