At the February 21 Bellaire City Council Meeting, Council spent nearly five hours discussing the applications for development of the former Chevron Property.
Mayor Friedberg opened the discussion with his concern that the scope of the project was too large and he offered the idea of reducing the approved square footage of the project to 2/3 of the current proposal. Council member Lewis stated that she had about 40 amendments she would like to propose, saying some were very minor, and it was clear that she had studied the applications and their ramifications in depth.
There was also more citizen input in the form of letters to Council with many expressing concern over the size of the proposal and the amount of traffic it would bring. Traffic was a major topic and there was much discussion about the streets surrounding the property and the concern they would not be adequate for the additional traffic load. Lighting spilling into the adjoining neighborhoods and cut-through traffic were also major concerns.
After lengthy discussion on amendments to the proposal, Council voted to have the City Attorney draw up legal terms for 18 proposed amendments which Council will revisit, hopefully at the next Council meeting.
