In roughly 36 days, many of us will go to the polls for a national election. While the importance of casting your vote cannot be underscored for all the obvious reasons, for our town at the bottom of the ballot, Bellaire residents will be presented with perhaps one of the most important decisions they will ever have to make regarding our future: the vote on Prop A Drainage and Prop B Water/Wastewater. After facing the devastation of the Tax Day and May Day floods, as well as Hurricane Harvey, which flooded approximately one-third of the houses in Bellaire, we, as a city, embarked on the monumental task of finding a solution to the flooding problem in Bellaire. Of course, we were not alone, and while the issue was a regional problem, we can all agree that no one will look out for our town as we will. Soon thereafter, the City constituted a Flood Hazard Mitigation Task Force made up of residents and professionals to develop policy recommendations for the prevention of future flooding. Ideas were exchanged, and plans were offered. For years, we talked and talked, all the while praying that storms like Harvey were really 500-year events. This fear fueled our sustained effort and commitment to finding a solution to endure the May Day and Tax Day type floods and appreciably mitigate the effects of the Harvey type events, whenever they do come. We have a plan, but it will take sacrifice. It starts with Prop A Drainage and Prop B Water/Wastewater. This will take a moment, so bear with me.
As we know, the folks in the Southdale section of town rebuilt as did many others, but while building our houses higher is certainly part of the solution, it is not the complete answer. Of course, while there was no shortage of ideas and plans like huge tunnels bored underground to hold and convey large amounts of water, the inevitable hurdle of how to pay for this approach and the others proffered, which always seemed to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, always arose. As important, many queried, what can we do, as we don't control Braes Bayou, nor even Cypress Ditch in which our stormwater empties and flows east parallel to Beechnut on our south from Chimney Rock to Braes Bayou inside the loop. True enough, Cypress Ditch is in Houston, and it is its responsibility to maintain, but who has a greater interest in clearing the trees that are growing out of it and fixing Cypress Ditch? We do, and doing nothing because it’s not in our town is not a viable solution.
Accordingly, we embarked on an "every journey begins with the first step approach". We started by hiring Ardurra Group, Inc., to help us develop a step-by-step regional drainage plan that we, Bellaire, would lead, that would not only be transformative for our town and the region, but which we could accomplish with the reasonable assistance of our regional partners to include the Harris County Flood Control District, the City of Houston, TxDOT, the State of Texas and the Federal government. No easy task, but doable.
Big picture, this is the plan:
Step 1: Address our building code so that new builds in the City would be built at one foot above the 500-year flood plain, which we did in 2023.
Step 2: Widen, deepen, and clear Cypress Ditch so it will hold more water and carry it to Braes Bayou, while, correspondingly, creating detention near Braes Bayou as there are limitations of how much and how fast we can dump our water into the bayou, which is where we are now.
Step 3: Thereafter, create North-South underground arterials through the City at major roads like Chimney Rock, South Rice, 610, Newcastle, and perhaps the railroad tracks, so that as the water flows from Northwest to Southeast, it can be collected, stored, and appropriately dumped into a "bigger and better" Cypress Ditch, and
Step 4: In the meantime, continue rebuilding our streets, adding appropriately sized pipes for water storage underneath, which would also appropriately convey water to the systems created in steps 2 and 3 above.
Easy, right? Step 1 was easy, check. Step 4 we started years ago with the issuance of voter-approved bonds, which comprise most of the 92 million dollars in debt the City has at present. While we cannot guarantee we won't flood in the future nor what type of storms are to come, we know that the benefits of steps 1 and 4 are limited if we can't get the water out of our town, and that goal all starts with the completion of step 2, which is what Prop A and B aim to provide. Full disclosure, voting for Prop A and B will not ensure step 2 gets done, as the estimated cost for the project is $110 million. The combined total of both propositions that you are being asked to approve is $70 million, with $30 million of that going toward decommissioning our wastewater treatment plant, e.g., Prop B. What I can tell you is that step 2 won't happen without our putting skin in the game.
Know this, the Federal government has committed a million dollars to the project, Harris County Flood Control District has committed $15 million, we are in talks with the City of Houston to give their permission for us to take the lead on renovating a waterway in Houston, and we believe will end up swapping our Ruffino Hills land for their properties along Braes Bayou, which we plan to add to the land currently housing our own wastewater treatment plant, which we propose to decommission, (i.e., Prop B), so that we will have the necessary area to build detention on these lands. We have asked the State of Texas for $54 million for which we have the support of the Harris County Flood Control District. In addition, TxDOT has assigned a project number to the north-south arterial along the west loop, which we hope ends with its construction of the same all the way to Braes Bayou from Glenmont, and the Houston-Galveston Area Council has deemed this a vital and important project in the region. We also have the strong support of Ann Johnson, our State Representative, Molly Cook, our State Senator, and Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.
It is at this point that I am reminded of what my daughter's AAU basketball coach would always say, "Do your Job." While we can't control what our regional partners do in the end, we can control our efforts and be shovel-ready for a 2025 start, and that begins with showing our financial commitment to addressing flooding in our town. The City cannot take an official position on the matter nor advocate for the passage of Prop A and B, but I as a resident can. I support it and will vote for both.
Yes, the passage of Prop A and B will increase our debt, but it will happen over time and will be mitigated by the fact that we already pay our debt down each year to the tune of $6 million and now have a storm water utility in place which can be used to defray the debt carry cost. Candidly, what choice do we have? If we don't take the lead, the job won't get done.
It is also true that with the passage of Prop B, we will decommission our wastewater treatment plant, but at present, it is being held together with duct tape and bailing wire. It's a ticking time bomb. The cost to rebuild it is roughly $100 million, and making the necessary repairs is estimated to cost $71.5 million to include needed repairs to our lift station(s), with the cost to decommission it being $29.5 million, i.e., Prop B. Not a hard choice really when the City of Houston will treat our wastewater at their plant just across the street, thus also alleviating ourselves of a huge regulatory burden. We will maintain our collection system, which is vital. My question to you is, do we really care who treats our wastewater? Frankly, Houston is willing to help, and we can use the difference in value of our Ruffino Hills property and the City of Houston's property to defray the impact fees of connecting to Houston's wastewater treatment plant. I have not, of course, even mentioned the transformation that is possible in that part of town, e.g., added green space and the endless possibilities that brings.
Folks, I admit it’s complicated, but we have every reason to believe it’s doable, with the passage of these two propositions. While you now have the 10,000 foot view, the City is offering the following to create awareness of the vote:
- The City's website, bellairetx.gov/2024bond
- In-person information sessions
- Flyers and official notices are posted at City Hall, BLIFE, the Library, Recreation Center, Police Department, and at various business and non-profit locations
- A City infomercial with yours truly narrating, which will be messaged on the City's social media platforms
- Banners throughout the City
- Voting reminders of the beginning of early voting (October 21, 2024) and election day (November 5, 2024)
- Flyer inserts in your water bill
For the details, you can frequent the City's website, you can call or email me and/or your city council members, and you can attend one of the in-person presentations the City has scheduled. If you missed the September 24, 2024, presentation at the Nature Discovery Center, you still have time to attend the Bellaire Business Association breakfast on October 10, the Bellaire SW Houston Rotary Meeting that same day and Evelyn's Park on October 22, 2024. Times and locations are posted on the City's website. We will also enlist the help of our community partners and City Boards and Commissions to spread the message at their monthly meetings.
This is a big deal. Be informed, and if not, get educated, make sure to go through the entire ballot, and when you get to pages 74 and 75, vote!
Gus Pappas