What’s Next? Possible Demo of Bellaire WWTP?

Click to View Item G.2

UPDATE 4/28/2025: Found this on a new page on the City of Bellaire website: https://www.bellairetx.gov/1938/WaterWastewater-Projects

5/13/2025 – Community Meeting Join us on May 13 at 6:30 p.m. for a Community Meeting at Bellaire City Hall to learn more about the Wastewater Treatment Plant, ask questions, and engage with council and staff. 

UPDATE 4/24/2025: Regarding a City management presentation on April 21, 2025, City Council Agenda (Item G.2) for costs for rehab or new construction of the WWTP. Watch the meeting here.

At one point in the meeting there’s an explanation regarding the $5 million or so left over from the Ruffino Hills swap with Houston for the old HPD station on Beechnut. It would be applied to the ‘impact fees’ due City of Houston for connection to their WWTP facility. West University sold their portion of Ruffino Hills for $10.5 million.

Back to HDR’s new $100 million or more estimate to build a new, fairly small WWTP. Find the cost for a recent, much larger Conroe WWTP: Conroe – large new WWTP at a final cost of $73 million dollars in 2024. Conroe sent a disc full of information, including this list of costs.

Find the cost for a recent small Galveston WWTP: Galveston is replacing a WWTP for the Pirates Beach area between 11 Mile Road and 13 Mile Road, with a contract for $23 million. It may be completed by now. Find plans, news, and public information requests here. 

When the time comes for a decision by City Council on the demolition of the Bellaire Wastewater Treatment Plant, shouldn’t the City of Bellaire advise residents of the possibility of the loss of the WWTP, and the consequential decision to move to the City of Houston plant for service?  

This is the possible loss of a critical City facility. Signs on major thoroughfares, a letter to every property owner? A public hearing and/or special session? Put it up to the residents for a vote?       

Unless they devote hours of their time attending or watching City meetings, most residents cannot keep up with what’s going on at City Hall. Many are not aware of the $7 million dollar purchase of the Glenmont property in Houston, to relocate Public Works. Others are unaware that we may lose the WWTP (see the new explanation for Proposition B on the City’s website).

Find HDR Engineering’s report on the WWTP here, with no actual cost estimate for repairs and/or ugrades to the current WWTP, and high costs for new construction of a small plant. Recent plants in Conroe and in Galveston were built for less cost than those mentioned in HDR reports.

Maybe the move to Houston won’t be a big deal, create problems, or raise costs. Bellaire spends $30 million plus some sort of $5 million dollar tradeoff for the Ruffno Hills property. Considering the $10.5 million that West University realized from their sale of a portion of Ruffino Hills, would the final cost be $40 million or more with that land swap?

Bellaire would demo both the HPD building in Houston and the Bellaire WWTP to provide area for dry detention. And the City of Bellaire would connect to the City of Houston WWTP to handle the City’s waste and sewage. One thing’s for sure, once our wastewater treatment plant is gone we will rely on Houston, no matter the problems or future costs.

My sense is that the loss of such an important public facility will diminish Bellaire’s reputation as an incorporated city independent of Houston. An important component in all this is City debt and how it affects our finances. Currently Bellaire pays $9.5 million in debt service each year on almost $100 million of debt.