Email the Mayor and members of Bellaire City Council via our City Clerk, Tracy Dutton at tdutton@bellairetx.gov and request that she forward it to them. I will be happy to post resident comments, emails, etc. here. Please send them to bellairebcc@gmail.com
Dear Neighbors,
There are three very important attachments below!
HISD has submitted their Application for the removal of 51 trees, effectively clearing the property of all these mature oaks!
The proposed site plan shows the entire property covered by ball fields or concrete. I have done extensive research on field construction. They are intentionally very compacted and sloped in order to quickly drain and prevent water absorption. An arborist I spoke with said a baseball field is almost as impermeable as a parking lot. Where will the stormwater go? Drainage in the immediate area is already woefully inadequate.
Minutes from P&Z meeting where they approved recommendation of the SUP (with conditions – see attachment) state: “Once the field is open, staff can evaluate to see if there are any issues with parking and solutions.” I urge you to read the attached document.
The Public Hearing before City Council is scheduled for Monday, July 6 at 6:00 pm. As residents that live in close proximity to this proposed facility PLEASE let your voice be heard. P&Z stated in letter to Council that “majority of public comments were in support of the newly revised site plan”. I suspect these were parents of current ball players who do not live near and will not suffer the permanent negative impact of this over-use of the property.
DéEtte and Ross Spence
Tree Permit Application – Tree Disposition_200519
Dear City Council of BellaIre,
Please do not forget the city’s stated goals/commitment to mitigate flooding in our city. As time passes from the 2017 catastrophe, memories tend to fade and commitments tend to diminish. However you have documented in writing a long term, officially accepted promise to mitigate flooding in our city.
You have an opportunity before you to take a stand and to make good on your commitment toward this publicly stated goal with the HISD permit application at the Maude Gordan Elementary school/ BELLAIRE High School baseball field.
Never mind that HISD is attempting to manipulate you by sneaking in scope creep, but I respectfully request that you consider the opinions of experts.
This article was written in 2017 after Harvey, but the facts are not changed since that time; only people’s attention span and forgetfulness of how important this factor is to our lives. I beg of you to read this article, to consider its weight. , to rely on experts greater than yourself to make informed decisions.
I beg of you to honor our citizens, to retain our property values, to hold HISD accountable to its original plans, to deliver on your promises.
Read this article please
Belinda B Schmidt
4500 block of Elm
My wife and I live on Merrie Lane near the proposed facility and are one of the area residents who will be affected by this facility.
During the 3 1/2 years we have lived on Merrie Lane, we have seen our street flooded several times not only from Hurricane Harvey (August 27, 2017), but also from Tropical Storm Imelda (September 19, 2019) and other major storm events (e.g., January 18, 2017) (see attached photographs). Many areas in Houston experience flooding but our neighborhood is especially hard hit during periods of heavy rain. Furthermore, traffic congestion and overflow parking has been a problem in this area such that The Post Oak School has had to hire a police officer to stop Bissonnet traffic during school days (see attached pdf).
The HISD Application that will be considered for the July 6 City Council Meeting is a significant revision of the original 2017 Application that was considered and approved by City Council. The revised Application doubles the number of baseball/softball fields, removes additional large, mature trees, expands use of the facility, and reduces the number of parking spaces for the proposed facility in comparison to the original 2017 HISD Application.
These revisions were discussed at Bellaire Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) hearings on November 14, 2019 and January 9, 2020. There was extensive opposition to the revised site plan by residents living in the immediate area of the proposed facility. Forty of 47 people who spoke at or wrote comments for the November 14 P&Z hearing were against the HISD revisions; twenty-four of 39 people who spoke at or wrote comments for the January 9 P&Z hearing were against or had concerns about subsequent revisions made by HISD to the site plan. It is significant to note that all of the people (except one person) speaking/commenting against the revised HISD Application on November 14 and all of the people speaking/commenting against the revised Application on January 9 live in the immediate area (Elm, Merrie, Palmetto, etc.) of the proposed facility. We are the residents who will be personally and financially affected directly by any increased flooding/traffic caused by the new facility
As a retired University Professor/research scientist and former Houston resident who graduated from HISD schools and participated in extracurricular activities, I support Bellaire High School athletics and am not opposed to the original 2017 HISD site plan, but I strongly feel that the current revised Application should not be approved. The original 2017 site plan, as proposed by HISD and approved by the City Council, meets current and future needs of the Bellaire High School baseball/softball teams without exacerbating traffic and flooding problems in this area of Bellaire.
Please do not hesitate to let me know if you would like additional supporting documents (e.g., copies of e-mails/letters submitted for the November 2019 and January 2020 P&Z hearings) for your article. Thank you and stay safe.
Sincerely,
Daniel Lim
Bellaire, TX
Construction on the new Bellaire High school is complete. The original building was demolished during the week of July 13-17, 2021. 
FEMA imposes requirements for new structures and limits on existing structures in flood zones. Check with Development Services for more information,
