I have had the pleasure of attending several of the resident information sessions that the City scheduled as well as those to which the community was invited, such as BBA’s monthly breakfast and Rotary’s monthly luncheon. While attendance has varied, the real benefit to the City has been the opportunity to (1) discuss the propositions in detail, which the City hopes will lead to an informed vote, (2) encourage our residents to vote on this important step, and (3) answer tough questions, which allows the City to continue to vet and refine its thoughts, plans, and contemplated solutions. On October 22, 2024, we had another such meeting at Eveyln’s Park. There were approximately 20-25 residents in attendance. The presentation was made, and the floor was opened for questions. The questions were frank and specific, and the discussion spirited, and they were helpful, as have been most all of the questions we have received throughout. More importantly, they led me to the notion of sharing them with all of you who were unable to be with us at these various events, along with my thoughts and responses to each. Here goes, in no particular order:
Q. So, what will be the benefit to each of us if we pass Prop A, and Cypress Ditch is deepened and widened, e.g., if my house flooded in Harvey, or the Tax or May Day floods, will this prevent it from flooding again?
R. First, we should be very pleased that the $400M+ Federal project, called Project Brays, was completed this past year. This will help significantly to lower water surface elevations on Brays Bayou in future storms. For more localized storms, improving the performance of Cypress Ditch will provide direct benefits to those communities in the southern part of Bellaire adjacent to the ditch. It will also, for certain events, improve the efficiency of our north/south storm sewer systems, extending benefits further up into central and northern Bellaire. Ultimately, additional improvements to our north/south storm sewers will be necessary to drive further flood risk reduction benefits. But completing the Cypress Ditch and regional detention project is the prerequisite to even considering those additional improvements.
Q. What are you doing to bring in outside funding to offset costs for Bellaire taxpayers?
R. From day one, these have been partnership projects. We have met extensively with elected officials at every level of government. We already have $15M in funding from Harris County obligated, we are working on creative partnerships and land swaps with the City of Houston, we have $1M in Community Partnership funding requested through Representative Lizzie Fletcher, and we have a $54M appropriations request submitted with the State Legislature for consideration in the 2025 Legislative Session. And we are partnering closely with TxDOT on future projects as well. We also have multiple grant applications in with both Federal and State entities. Rest assured that all efforts are being made to minimize the portion of project costs that must be borne by Bellaire taxpayers.
Q. Why don’t you just clear Cypress Ditch and save the 40 million?
R. Long story short, maintenance of Cypress Ditch is warranted and entirely needed. And we continue to work with the City of Houston to push them to conduct regular maintenance of the channel. However, maintenance alone does not actually increase the conveyance capacity of the channel. It merely restores the current conveyance capacity of the channel. We require improvements to increase the conveyance capacity of the channel. Another benefit of improving Cypress Ditch is that, once it meets Harris County Flood Control District standards, the channel can be turned over to HCFCD for ongoing maintenance in the future. Being a part of the HCFCD maintenance program will be a significant improvement.
Q. I see that you have plans for north/south trunk lines in the later stages of the overall project. What happens if we complete this first project but never make further improvements?
R. First off – the Cypress Ditch improvement project will provide significant benefits to the City of Bellaire even without other improvements. However, when coupled with additional future improvements, those benefits will grow and become more significant. We have to approach this in a systems manner. Building from downstream up, we can create the opportunity to provide broader benefits across all of Bellaire.
Q. What will be the cost of the north/south trunk lines and the renovated streets in Bellaire, and when will they be built?
R. These are the secondary phases of the overall plan. And it will take years, perhaps decades, to get all of that work done. What I can say is that we have partnered with TXDOT to start a project to evaluate improvements to the north/south trunk line running down the 610 West Loop from Glenmont to Brays Bayou. That is significant progress, as such improvements would be paid for by TxDOT and not Bellaire taxpayers. Bottom line, there are improvements needed everywhere. But until we create more capacity to convey floodwaters out of Bellaire, we are not going to make significant progress. So, we need to complete these first foundational steps, which will allow us to move on to these subsequent phases of improvements.
Q. Why now? Wouldn’t it be better if we waited and paid our debt down more and interest rates are lower?
R. My thought, if not now, when, after another storm? Second, things are not getting any cheaper to build, and available opportunities for detention are being snapped up quickly by others. Third, the State of Texas is looking for this kind of project to devote funds, but they need projects which can be shovel ready in 2025 because that is when they will have money to give. We have a short window of time for our $54M request to the State. As for interest, we are Triple AAA bond rated. Even if we pay a bit more in interest now, we have traditionally been able to reduce the interest at certain points and when opportunities have arisen, which has saved us quite a bit on our current debt.
Q. What if the bonds are passed and you don’t get enough money to build it?
R. This bond only provides the authority to borrow. If it passes, and we get HCFCD’s $15M, and another $1M from the Federal government, but not the full amount from the State that we requested, we will have to evaluate what we can do at that point and whether we can substantially achieve our goals with what we have. This could include phasing the project or holding off until we can secure all the funding we need to complete the project. Importantly, bonds will not be sold until we are ready to move out on the project.
Q. If approved and you don’t improve Cypress Ditch because you can’t achieve your goals with the money you have, can you use the money for something else? Repurpose it, so to speak?
R. The $40M is for drainage improvements, in general. Currently, we intend to use those funds to construct the Cypress Ditch improvement project in partnership with our other funding partners. If the project cannot be completed as intended, or if we end up completing it under budget, any remaining bond authority could only be used for like-minded drainage projects. Importantly, this funding cannot be re-purposed to anything other than drainage.
Q. So, you say you’re going to decommission the WWTP, but the bond language doesn’t say that. It asks for money for improvements to the water and wastewater system. How do you reconcile that discrepancy?
R. The bond language is accurate and appropriate. The purpose of the bond is to increase the resiliency and reliability of our water and wastewater systems. Currently, our preferred path to that goal is to decommission the WWTP and pump our flows to the City of Houston for treatment. We also need repairs to our collection system, which we will continue to maintain, and some of the money will be used for those purposes. So, the bond language is accurate. While we have presented several potential solutions, the bond authority does not dictate exactly how we accomplish those goals. And that’s important because we still have more work to do in terms of negotiating with the City of Houston and advancing project designs. Importantly, we asked for authority to achieve the least costly wastewater alternative. If, in the end, our plans change and we decide to improve/replace our WWTP, we can still go down that road.
Q. How much is this going to cost me?
R. We stated in the literature on the City’s website what it would cost you if we spent it all in one fell swoop, and you had to pay it in one lump sum, like an assessment so to speak. We suspect that it won’t happen that way, e.g., costs will be spent over many years, during which time we will be paying down the debt that we have. We also may not have to buy land, which would lead to a reduction of the cost by several million dollars, and we can use some of the stormwater drainage fees to pay down debt service. While costs could go up, we have been conservative with our estimates of that cost, which could also help. It will cost us, no doubt. The real question is, what will it cost you if we do nothing?
Q. What if we do nothing?
R. In terms of drainage, see Allison, see Tax Day flood, see May Day Flood, see Harvey. I am not trying to be flippant, truly, but I think for those of us who have been in Bellaire for all of those events, the answer is obvious. And remember, you are not voting on the overall long-term plan, you are voting on taking a critical first step that will improve our situation immediately and set the stage for future improvement projects.
In terms of wastewater, we have a legal and regulatory obligation to manage our wastewater flows. We don’t have a choice. Doing nothing puts us at greater risk of serious regulatory violations and potential plant failure. And those are risks we cannot accept. One way or another, we need to ensure we have a resilient and reliable wastewater system.
Q. Is the WWTP really in that bad of shape that we need to spend that much money?
R. Yes, it’s very old and designed to an entirely different standard, it has cost us a great deal of money over the years to keep it running, it’s a huge regulatory burden, and Houston can and will take our effluent. Most importantly, the proposed plan to decommission our WWTP and pump our flows to the City of Houston for treatment is anticipated to cost us less, both in the short-term and in the long-term. Which is a win-win for our community. And don’t forget, we also need the land on which it sits for stormwater detention.
Q. Are the bonds tied together?
R. Yes and no. Each proposition addresses a specific area of need and can proceed ahead with or without the other. However, the ability to use the WWTP site for stormwater detention would greatly accelerate our drainage program and increase our ability to provide drainage benefits to the community.
I encourage you to get informed and go vote. Feel free to email your questions to my City email, gpappas@bellairetx.gov. We have worked on this for seven (7) years. History tells us what will happen if we do nothing. Gus
2024 Bond Election Information