At the City Council meeting this past Monday night—our first post-Harvey—the City Manager’s report was devoted to the hurricane and the City’s ongoing response. His detailed presentation covered several topics, starting with a walk-through of the City’s preparation for and then daily activities during the storm, followed by the transition to recovery. He spent a great deal of time focused on the questions people are asking right now, concerning the process for flood repair permits including market value and substantial damage determinations, and about our progress to date on debris removal.
What the City Manager’s report did not get into was any engineering review. That will be for the City Engineer, who is currently preparing a comprehensive analysis of the root causes and extent of the devastating flooding we experienced, and where to go from here in our infrastructure planning. He will present his report to Council and the public at our meeting on October 2.
Council received public comment from several speakers concerning flooding and related topics. Given that this was our first regular meeting post-Harvey, it’s unfortunate that it happened to be the same night as the long-awaited public hearing on the specific use permit applications for the reconstruction of Bellaire High School. The hearing was legally noticed weeks before Harvey had even formed in the Gulf and demanded our attention despite everything else going on in the aftermath of the storm. This resulted in a late evening, and understandably not all of our speakers could stay for public comment.
We welcome your input, as always, and there will be multiple opportunities to address Council at our upcoming meetings as we continue to discuss these issues of paramount importance to our community moving forward. I hope you will make plans to join us for the City Engineer’s presentation on October 2.
What the City Manager’s report did not get into was any engineering review. That will be for the City Engineer, who is currently preparing a comprehensive analysis of the root causes and extent of the devastating flooding we experienced, and where to go from here in our infrastructure planning. He will present his report to Council and the public at our meeting on October 2.
Council received public comment from several speakers concerning flooding and related topics. Given that this was our first regular meeting post-Harvey, it’s unfortunate that it happened to be the same night as the long-awaited public hearing on the specific use permit applications for the reconstruction of Bellaire High School. The hearing was legally noticed weeks before Harvey had even formed in the Gulf and demanded our attention despite everything else going on in the aftermath of the storm. This resulted in a late evening, and understandably not all of our speakers could stay for public comment.
We welcome your input, as always, and there will be multiple opportunities to address Council at our upcoming meetings as we continue to discuss these issues of paramount importance to our community moving forward. I hope you will make plans to join us for the City Engineer’s presentation on October 2.
