Don’t be fooled by recent City Council votes on sidewalks. Five foot wide sidewalks are still the standard with street reconstruction. The stand-alone sidewalks have been shelved but the funds have not been redirected by City Council to other projects like new streets or drainage, even as Council is considering another $47 million dollar bond issue in 2019 and another $36 million in 2022. Take a look at the page below.
It’s important to note this as City Council discusses the need for more debt because of, according to the Mayor, “our most critical infrastructure needs: streets and drainage, water and wastewater”.
When did stand-alone sidewalks become ‘critical’ to our infrastructure needs? Stand-alone sidewalks are concrete sidewalks that would be installed along entire residential blocks, not tied to new streets or drainage but just retrofitted into existing landscaping.
In 2017 a majority of Bellaire City Council chose to allot $4 million for stand-alone sidewalks over the objections of the Mayor. Proposition 1 of the 2017 Bonds for Better Bellaire, for $24 million, was marketed as “a systematic approach to replacing streets and drainage systems according to their relative priority, with sidewalks on at least one side of each street as they are replaced”. But the $4 million for stand-alone sidewalks was to be paid from those funds – no streets, no drainage.
One of the 2016 Bond projects that actually addresses our aging infrastructure is Group B Phase 1, the construction of streets and drainage with sidewalks on one side for:
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4700 Linden
4900 Willow
4900-5000 block of Imperial
4900-5000 block of Mayfair
The Contracted Cost is $3,982,834. Six blocks of NEW street and drainage plus a sidewalk – for less than the amount allotted to stand-alone sidewalks many residents do not want.
Most of the sidewalks in the first two phases of the stand-alone projects have been withdrawn because of petitions from as many as 90% or more of the residents on those streets. The the contractor for the first phase withdrew their bid. So Council discussed combining the remaining streets into another package to go out for bids. (See the spreadsheet at the bottom of this article.)
Let’s see – $ 4 million dollars — 4 to 6 new streets with new drainage — or blocks of stand-alone sidewalks most residents have shown they do not want. Our current bonded debt is $124.8 million, with a $47 million bond issue under discussion for 2019 and another $36 million bond issue in 2022.
Regardless of whether or not the entire $4 million will be spent on these stand-alone sidewalks, it was the intent of a majority on Council to do so. Is this how the City Manager and City Council manage our money? Fiscal responsibility?
More sidewalk information here: http://www.bellairecivicclub.com/bellaire-a-city-divided/
What about the city manager’s and City Council’s plans for Spruce and Fifth Streets? This is another pot of money from the 2016 bond issue to be used for replacing streets and drainage systems according to their relative priority, with sidewalks on at least one side of each street as they are replaced”.
Where did that bond language mention narrowed lanes, use the right-of-way to add angled public parking that will infringe on private parking areas and crowd out local businesses? Easy answer – it didn’t. Why build an expensive streetscape on a commercial street behind a grocery store? Who stands to benefit? At a final cost of over $3 million for those two streets?
Not the current businesses – they already have private parking available. Not H-E-B, who built their store bordering a 60 foot wide street to accommodate the many delivery vehicles that service the store daily. Not Bellaire residents who patronize all these businesses – they already have a place to park.
What other businesses are handy for residents to visit if they park behind H-E-B? The public parking spots will likely be put to good use by H-E-B employees. They already park along the 5200 block of Cedar.
The Comprehensive Plan calls for the City to support our small businesses. “Offer mini-grants to existing commercial property and business owners to help finance building façade improvements, enhanced landscaping, or other site upgrades that might not otherwise occur where no construction activities are planned that would trigger compliance with newer development standards.” Nothing about blocking access or narrowing streets.
So again, who stands to benefit other than engineers and contractors? Are there some developers in the shadows? Don’t we have more important needs, like streets and drainage?
Find updated information on the vote to approve this project at http://www.bellairecivicclub.com/bellaire-city-council-votes-6-to-1-to-proceed-with-spruce-fifth-sts-project/
Find more financial information here: http://www.bellairecivicclub.com/how-does-our-debt-compare-see-the-texas-comptrollers-debt-at-a-glance/
Find more information on the bond planning session here: http://www.bellairecivicclub.com/future-bond-program-planning-session-a-possible-47-million-bond-issue-in-2019/
Email your thoughts or opinions to the Mayor and members of City Council in care of our City Clerk, Tracy Dutton, at tdutton@bellairetx.gov
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,
