The Bellaire City Council approved an agreement with AStatus Construction, LLC for the construction of the Bonds for a Better Bellaire 2016, Group C Phase 2, (Spruce & 5th Street) for an amount not to exceed $2,490,502.50. Only one Council Member, Pat McLaughlin, voted against approving the project at the February 18 City Council Meeting.
Several other agreements were approved in relation to the Bonds for a Better Bellaire 2016, however the Spruce/5th project was contested by many businesses and residents and therefore was the main topic of the meeting’s citizen comments.
Residents spoke out for and against the project during the comment portion of the meeting. Council members gave their thoughts on the project and some were concerned with misinformation that had been spread by some residents. Mayor Friedberg’s latest blog post explains how making improvements to Spruce and 5th during the drainage project for those streets follows the City’s Comprehensive Plan.
The Mayor explains “It starts as a drainage project. And not just any drainage project, but one of our upsized drainage projects following our new approach in the Bonds for Better Bellaire 2016 program, of adding underground detention capacity at strategic locations and for the benefit of the surrounding areas. Spruce and Fifth were identified for reconstruction according to our established street selection criteria, as both the undersized drainage system and paving have reached the end of their useful service lives. Then, once we’ll have dug a massive hole for the drainage pipes, we’ll need to fill in that hole and restore the street surface (which is of course part of and budgeted for in any drainage project). That presents an exceptional opportunity to upgrade the downtown streetscape as envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan.”
The Mayor talks about the City’s Comprehensive Plan, how change can be hard, and how facts matter. Read the Mayor’s full blog post HERE.
Spruce St. Concept: City of Bellaire
