Bellaire council members also agreed to have Houston treat the city's wastewater for the next 100 years, giving Bellaire a clearer path on what to do with its wastewater treatment plant, City Manager Sharon Citino said.
The details
The Ruffino Tract is a 76-acre tract of land that served Bellaire as a municipal landfill for years before being closed in the early 1990s, according to the agenda item. Citino said Houston wants to acquire the Rufino Tract to turn it into a flood detention zone as part of the city’s efforts to fight against future flooding.
Bellaire also plans on purchasing Houston’s 13.15-acre Beechnut Tract for $6.46 million, as part of Bellaire’s project to expand the Cypress Ditch in hopes of improving flood mitigation and drainage. However, Citino said with the city not having much land, they needed to find extra land they could use to help with their stormwater detention project.
“To meet those requirements is pretty tough for a city like Bellaire,” Citino said. “Everything has been developed. Property here is quite expensive. We realize that Houston has some parcels just across Beechnut.”
What else?
As part of the land swap agreement, Houston also has to treat Bellaire’s wastewater over the next 100 years. Citino said although this isn’t connected to the city’s decision on what to do with its wastewater plant, the agreement gives the city a clearer picture on what they should do.
The city’s wastewater treatment plant is on its last legs, described as in “poor shape” and “well beyond its useful life,” according to previous Community Impact reporting. As the city weighs on what to do with the plant—rehabilitate it, build a completely new one at a different location or decommission it—Citino said if Bellaire agrees to the land swap, the city should be committed to decommissioning the wastewater plant and connecting to Houston.
What they’re saying
Council members spent three minutes each discussing how they feel about the wastewater treatment plant, with all council members agreeing that the city needs to decommission the plant and connect their wastewater to Houston.
“This allows us to spend money in places that are more useful,” Council member Brian Witt said. “This allows some potential to turn that southside of the city into something amazing, and I think in the long run, that’s going to be beneficial for everyone.”
Mayor Gus Pappas said he remembers originally being in the mindset of not decommissioning the plant 10 years ago. However, as time went on and he considered the many things the city still needs to address such as drainage and street repairs, he believes decommissioning the plant will allow the city to focus on these issues rather than continuously maintaining the plant.
“We don’t have to have a water treatment plant, Houston does,” Pappas said. “They have had five floods over there. Today they treated the water for 125,000 homes, tomorrow they’ll be treating the water for 125,000 homes [and] they’ll do it the next day. They do it because they have to do it.”
Bellaire officials have not set a date to decide on what to do with wastewater treatment plant.
