A decades-old debate over sidewalks in Bellaire could be decided once and for all with the charter election on the November ballot. (Photo by Charlotte Aguilar)

By Charlotte Aguilar

Sidewalks — whether they’re needed, where to put them, how wide they should, be, if they should be networked, if they exacerbate flooding, how to fund them — have been a matter of debate for decades in Bellaire.

The result is evident in a short drive through the city’s neighborhoods — a crazy-quilt of randomly poured concrete that will create a smooth path on one block, skip another, be in front of one or two homes on some streets and go nowhere, or twist dizzyingly around trees and landscaping.

Now, nearly two years after the latest surge of interest in the issue spawned a grassroots movement that qualified detailed sidewalk measures for the ballot, the matter is finally being put to a vote Nov. 3 in the form of three propositions that would amend Bellaire’s city charter.

Despite the petitions forcing an election being certified in January of 2019, legally a charter election could not be held until spring of 2020. The pandemic led the city to delay a planned May vote until the November general election.

Strong campaigns have emerged on both sides, bringing all the passion of decades of discussion with them, and an additional issue thrown into the mix: Whether amending the city’s charter is an appropriate way to deal with sidewalk planning.

Proponents of the measures say it’s all about creating block-by-block choice, while opponents claim passage will in fact take away residents’ choice and make sidewalk construction virtually impossible. Mayor Andrew Friedberg has sided with the opponents, taking to his city blog with increasing urgency to argue against the propositions.

Essentials offered each side a chance to present their own unfiltered case. The following are their responses.

A ‘for’ vote: Making the case for ‘sidewalk choice’

By Mike Jacobs/SidewalkChoice.com

•The ballot propositions do not directly state that they are banning additional sidewalks. How do we know they will make any future sidewalks impossible?

The ballot propositions will not make future sidewalks impossible. Opponents of the propositions have galvanized around the mayor’s comments and (incorrectly) suggested that if the charter amendments pass, no more sidewalks would be built in Bellaire. Specifically, they rely on his comment that “No City Council could rationally incur the cost of engineering and designing projects so uncertain to actually be built.”

Their only problem is that the mayor’s comments are demonstrably false. In Bellaire’s FY 2020 adopted budget, council approved a $302,000 expense (Capital Improvement Fund) and a separate $627,000 expense (Capital Bond Fund) for “the design of street and drainage projects in preparation for a future bond program.”

Spending on designs for projects isn’t new to Bellaire. The 2019 budget has a $315,000 expense to “determine partners, study alternatives, and develop cost estimates to increase capacity of the north/south drainage systems and Cypress Ditch.” No future project was “certain to be built.” In 2017, council approved a $75,000 expense for a “Community Pathways Master Plan” that didn’t result in a new project. There are countless more examples.

Spending on design has never stopped Bellaire from investing in “projects so uncertain to be built” in the past. Yet after the mayor’s blog post, the opposition based their entire position against the propositions on a faulty premise that passage would end sidewalks in Bellaire.

Ironically, none of us believe that the mayor or council were acting irrationally when they green-lighted the aforementioned expenditures.

The Sidewalk Choice Group would argue the other side of the coin: City staff will be forced to engage residents, focus on flood mitigation, and respect personal property. The city would stop spending millions of dollars on projects uncertain to be built and instead spend thousands of dollars planning for projects that residents support/desire.

•Why does the anti-sidewalks faction want to amend the city charter? Why not just pass an ordinance?

If we passed an ordinance, a future City Council could override it with a vote. By amending the City Charter, it ensures that the will of the people is followed. The City Charter is not akin to the U.S. Constitution. The highest value asset that most families have is their home; the charter amendment shifts decision-making power from elected officials to the property owners in order to protect their main asset.

•If these propositions are voted down, does that mean new sidewalks will be built everywhere?

Not at all. If the propositions are voted down, new sidewalks will be built at the whim of city staff/City Council. However, a “for” vote on the propositions ensures that the city will follow the will of the people. Those who want sidewalks will get them, and any additional flooding impacts will be offset with associated drainage.

Our group is not pro-sidewalk or anti-sidewalk. We are just pro-sidewalk choice. The propositions will not limit any future sidewalk construction. They will simply force the city to engage residents.

It’s your property. You deserve a voice.

Voting against: Preserving choice, averting chaos

From Patricia Bernstein/SafeBellaire.com

•The ballot propositions do not directly state that they are banning additional sidewalks. How do we know they will make any future sidewalks impossible?

The ballot propositions are cleverly worded to sound harmless but the intent is obvious. Proposition A requires immensely expensive studies to be done before any new sidewalk project is even proposed to City Council. No one will be willing to spend that kind of money before a project is even considered. Proposition B requires that 50% of residents on a street approve a sidewalk project within three months of the beginning of construction. We all know how often new construction is postponed. Would residents have to be polled again each time construction is delayed? Proposition C would require that any sidewalk construction be offset by elimination of any impact on drainage or runoff within the city. This last amendment is particularly absurd in view of the size of homes and driveways being built in Bellaire—far more spacious than any sidewalk– without any consideration of impact on drainage. Bellaire engineers concluded long ago that sidewalks have a minimal effect, if any, on flooding.

Why does the anti-sidewalks faction want to amend the city charter? Why not just pass an ordinance?

Whether Bellaire residents are opposed to more sidewalks or not, most would agree that amending the city charter is wildly inappropriate. That’s killing a gnat with a sledgehammer. For a small city like Bellaire, the city charter is akin to the US Constitution. It should only be amended with regard to major issues that cannot be dealt with any other way. In this case, any new sidewalk project currently will be subject to a City Council vote with input from the residents. The anti-sidewalk faction has chosen this route because they know that repealing a provision in the city charter will be practically impossible. They want to absolutely ensure that Bellaire residents may never again choose to support a new sidewalk.

If these propositions are voted down, does that mean new sidewalks will be built everywhere?

Absolutely not. Any new sidewalk project, for example, on the busy streets around Bellaire High School, would have to be justified and voted on by City Council. There is no plan or project afoot to suddenly place sidewalks on every block. We would simply like to preserve the possibility of building new sidewalks where they are needed.

As the mayor describes, if the proposed charter amendments go through, the new restrictions will make the whole process hopelessly complicated, difficult and liable to many expensive redos, conflicts of timelines, and endless, unproductive and costly squabbling. The mayor questions whether any contractor would even want to engage in such an uncertain mess. We, like the mayor, believe in a city run in an orderly fashion by elected officials, not by an unelected clique who have openly stated that their intent is to remove all sidewalk matters from the hands of City Council. You get a clear sense of the chaos that would result from the mayor’s blog.

On the ballot

Bellaire voters will be asked to vote for or against

these three propositions:

PROPOSITION A:

Shall the charter be amended to provide that the city of Bellaire must, prior to the consideration of any ordinance by the City Council for the construction of any sidewalk on any block zoned by the city for residential use, deliver by certified mail to each of the owners of real property locate on such block, detailed written information consisting of the exact location of such sidewalk in relationship to all trees, landscaping, fencing, sprinkler systems, and drainage lines, and a hydrological study performed by an independent engineer not otherwise affiliated with the city of the project, such written information to be provided to each such owner on or before the date that is six (6) months prior to the City Council’s consideration of the ordinance for construction of such sidewalk.

PROPOSITION B:

Shall the charter be amended to provide that no sidewalks shall be constructed by the city of Bellaire on any block zoned by the city for residential use without the written approval of at least fifty percent (50%) of the owners of real property located on such block, such approval to be obtained no more than three (3) months prior to the commencement of such construction.

PROPOSITION C:

Shall the charter be amended to provide that the city of Bellaire shall not construct any sidewalk on any block zoned by the city for residential use, unless the city concurrently eliminates the impact of such impervious material used in the sidewalk construction on surface water discharge/runoff within the city.

Oct 14, 2020Charlotte Aguilar

Bellaire voters to decide decades-old debate over sidewalks with 3 ballot measures