|
|
 |
Thursday
March 11, 2010 Since 1922 |
Mont Belvieu calls $11 million bond vote
By Jessica Robertson
Baytown Sun Published August 28, 2007 Mont Belvieu City Council decided on Monday to put an $11 million bond issue before voters in November.
Council voted unanimously for the election, which will ask residents to approve bonds to improve Eagle Drive, the city’s main thoroughfare. The election will be held Nov. 6.
City administrator Bryan Easum said the bonds would fund drainage improvements and water and sewer work. Council didn’t discuss the minutiae of the proposed project on Monday but will be able to in a future meeting, he said.
If approved, the bond would increase the property tax rate by 5.8 cents per $100 valuation. For a home with a taxable value of $150,000, annual taxes would increase by $86.86.
In other business, a developer told Council that work on a subdivision in Mont Belvieu off Highway 146 has stalled because of poor communication from the city engineer.
“This has been a very long and frustrating process,” said Kevin Speer, who is developing St. Augustine Meadows, a 168-acre subdivision that’ll be built out over four phases.
He initially presented a project submission to the city in April 2006 and was given a notice to proceed by Council three months later. But it’s taken more than a year to get preliminary plat approval, Speers said.
“I’ve still not been able to understand what it is about the process that has taken so long,” he said. “Our subdivision ordinances aren’t broken. We can work through them easily, but we need administrative help to do that.”
City engineer Dan Williams told Council he has taken issue with the drainage plans for the subdivision, which include a swell ditch that carries overflow water through a series of structural aluminum plates into a detention pond.
“I don’t have a bone to pick with the developer or the schematics of a diversion channel to push water into a detention pond,” Williams said. “But it’s not the way things are normally done, and if you do it that way, you should expect a bit more scrutiny.”
Butch Wilson, an engineer working with Speers on the project, described in detail how water would flow in and out of the detention pond. The design plans could withstand a 100-year storm, although such an occurrence isn’t likely, he said.
“Ninety percent of the time, it’s not going to be that 100-year storm, but that’s what this is designed for,” Wilson said.
The explanation eased the concerns of Councilman Mike Pomykal, who said that he didn’t have a problem with the plan as long as Wilson’s information could be matched up against figures Williams presented.
“That definitely gave me a better understanding of the project,” Pomykal said. “If the numbers bear out, I don’t have a problem with it.”
But Williams told Council that he wasn’t convinced by the information presented that the drainage system would work.
“If I have a good idea that a subdivision is going to create a flood problem, I’m not going to sign off on it,” he said. “This is a worthy project, but I’ve got problems with it.”
Council approved a preliminary plat for St. Augustine Meadows on the condition that Speers and his team meet with Williams to develop a list of items that need to be discussed and a timeline for addressing those issues.
“I appreciate your vigilance, but I think we need to resolve this issue,” Pomykal said to Williams. “It sounds to me like everybody needs to be on the same page. They’re not building this yet, but if we’re not going to use (their drainage plan), we need to decided what we’re going to use.”
Baytown Sun Published August 28, 2007 Mont Belvieu City Council decided on Monday to put an $11 million bond issue before voters in November.
Council voted unanimously for the election, which will ask residents to approve bonds to improve Eagle Drive, the city’s main thoroughfare. The election will be held Nov. 6.
City administrator Bryan Easum said the bonds would fund drainage improvements and water and sewer work. Council didn’t discuss the minutiae of the proposed project on Monday but will be able to in a future meeting, he said.
If approved, the bond would increase the property tax rate by 5.8 cents per $100 valuation. For a home with a taxable value of $150,000, annual taxes would increase by $86.86.
In other business, a developer told Council that work on a subdivision in Mont Belvieu off Highway 146 has stalled because of poor communication from the city engineer.
“This has been a very long and frustrating process,” said Kevin Speer, who is developing St. Augustine Meadows, a 168-acre subdivision that’ll be built out over four phases.
He initially presented a project submission to the city in April 2006 and was given a notice to proceed by Council three months later. But it’s taken more than a year to get preliminary plat approval, Speers said.
“I’ve still not been able to understand what it is about the process that has taken so long,” he said. “Our subdivision ordinances aren’t broken. We can work through them easily, but we need administrative help to do that.”
City engineer Dan Williams told Council he has taken issue with the drainage plans for the subdivision, which include a swell ditch that carries overflow water through a series of structural aluminum plates into a detention pond.
“I don’t have a bone to pick with the developer or the schematics of a diversion channel to push water into a detention pond,” Williams said. “But it’s not the way things are normally done, and if you do it that way, you should expect a bit more scrutiny.”
Butch Wilson, an engineer working with Speers on the project, described in detail how water would flow in and out of the detention pond. The design plans could withstand a 100-year storm, although such an occurrence isn’t likely, he said.
“Ninety percent of the time, it’s not going to be that 100-year storm, but that’s what this is designed for,” Wilson said.
The explanation eased the concerns of Councilman Mike Pomykal, who said that he didn’t have a problem with the plan as long as Wilson’s information could be matched up against figures Williams presented.
“That definitely gave me a better understanding of the project,” Pomykal said. “If the numbers bear out, I don’t have a problem with it.”
But Williams told Council that he wasn’t convinced by the information presented that the drainage system would work.
“If I have a good idea that a subdivision is going to create a flood problem, I’m not going to sign off on it,” he said. “This is a worthy project, but I’ve got problems with it.”
Council approved a preliminary plat for St. Augustine Meadows on the condition that Speers and his team meet with Williams to develop a list of items that need to be discussed and a timeline for addressing those issues.
“I appreciate your vigilance, but I think we need to resolve this issue,” Pomykal said to Williams. “It sounds to me like everybody needs to be on the same page. They’re not building this yet, but if we’re not going to use (their drainage plan), we need to decided what we’re going to use.”