any specifics when Community Impact Newspaper reached out for comment, but the bond could be discussed at a future board meeting, Sarah Roeber, administrative assistant for the district, said in an email. Council Member Woody Owens in the Feb. 14 council meeting mentioned the importance of prioritizing projects. “We need to take a look at the drain- age projects ... that [are] going to be the best benefit for us because we can’t do all of them,” Owens said. Building a bond At its Feb. 28 meeting, City Council appointed members to a committee BUSINESS decision The Pearland Chamber of Commerce received responses from 79 businesses in Pearland that account for over 10,000 jobs in the city regarding the stormwater utility fee the city has since decided to not pursue. Responses show overwhelming opposition to the fee. SOURCE: PEARLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Businesses in favor of postponing the stormwater fee
Businesses who believe City Council needs more input from businesses
Businesses in support of getting more information
Yes: 85%
Yes: 77%
Don’t do fee at all: 56% Yes: 34% Need more information: 10%
No: 1%
No: 5%
Need more information: 14%
Need more information: 18%
tasked with evaluating, reviewing and prioritizing potential projects for a drainage bond referendum to provide a recommendation to City Council sometime between June 1 and Aug. 3. Within a similar time frame, city staff will also be conducting preliminary engineering reports on several differ- ent projects that could potentially be added in a bond, Pearson said. The reports will identify any poten- tial issues and provide the city with tighter estimates on construction costs, he said. How the different projects are pre- sented to Pearland City Council is still to be determined, Pearson said.
“I would foresee that it is some sort of prioritization—pros [and] cons of the different projects and the timing of when they could be done,” he said. Going forward, the advisory com- mittee and city staff will have the sum- mer to prioritize the city’s needs. While the committee was given deadlines to present City Council with recommendations in time to poten- tially call a bond election in November, Pearson alluded to May 2023 being the target goal. The final day to put the referen- dum on a November ballot is Aug. 22, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office.
Several council members were also still in favor of keeping a stormwa- ter utility fee as an option, even if the city agrees on a bond, mainly due to the ongoing needs for maintenance and operations on existing aging infrastructure. “[Maintenance projects are] not as sexy, and you don’t get the credit for it, … [but] that has to be a huge priority especially as we continue to age as a city,” Council Member Luke Orlando said.
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
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PEARLAND - FRIENDSWOOD EDITION • MARCH 2022
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