League City City Council on Tuesday approved borrowing over $11 million to pay for various planned projects.
The money will go toward three main projects:
- A new fire station
- A new animal shelter
- A new road that will connect Hobbs Road to Calder Drive
Fire Station No. 6 will be built on South Shore Boulevard just south of Hwy. 96. New homes are being built in the area, and so an additional fire station is necessary for the area, League City City Manager John Baumgartner said.
“It’ll decrease response times,” he said.
The two-story station will have three bays and living quarters for up to four firefighters and two paramedics. The project will go out for bid in October and be under construction by January, Baumgartner said.
The new animal shelter will be built on Walker Street near the League City Public Safety building as an extension to the campus.
The current facility is overcrowded—so much so that the city has offered free pet adoptions and temporarily stopped taking on stray animals.
The new shelter will be more than a place for pet adoptions; the goal is to make it a community gathering spot, said Sarah Greer Osborne, director of communications and media relations.
The project will go to bid in January and will be built by December 2019, Baumgartner said.
The Ervin Connector is a road project that will connect Calder Drive to the new Hobbs Road extension to the south.
“It improves accessibility to that part of the community,” Baumgartner said of the project.
The project will go to bid in January and take a couple months to complete, he said.
The council last year approved the 2018-22 capital improvement plan, which includes $423.6 million in projects to be funded over the next five years.
In other business
League City City Council held its first public hearing Tuesday for its proposed fiscal year 2018-19 budget.
The $207.96 million budget includes a property tax rate of $0.5638 per $100 valuation, a drop from FY 2017-18’s rate of $0.565 and a 10.5 percent reduction compared to 2010’s rate of $0.63.
Most residents who discussed the budget mentioned a proposed $200,000 capital project to build a dog park on League City’s east side.
Advocates spoke about the “definite need” for a second dog park. The west side dog park is the most visited League City park; east side residents must deal with traffic to reach the park; and a municipality of League City’s size should have at least five dog parks, advocates said.
The council will have a second public hearing on the budget Aug. 28 and likely approve it at its Sept. 11 meeting.
