A divided Bellaire City Council on Monday approved a permit for the new $26 million Condit Elementary School, but not the way the Houston Independent School District wanted.
By a 4-1-2 vote, the council approved the permit for the new school, with several changes by Councilman Gus Pappas to a controversial parking plan sought by HISD.
Councilmembers Pappas, Roman Reed, Jim Avioli and Pat McLaughlan voted in favor of the changed permit, with Mayor Phil Nauert voting against it, and Councilmembers Mandy Nathan and Andrew Friedberg abstaining. Nathan and Friedberg did, however, express support for a new school for Condit.
HISD officials who attended the council meeting were surprised, but declined to comment on the council’s decision.
Condit Principal Dan Greenberg said, “We’re going to take it (back) to our architects and see if it’s doable.”
Peggy Newhouse, a member of a team that had worked on the Condit school plan for more than a year, said: “It seems a little audacious.”
The council’s decision came after months of controversy over a new 66-space parking lot on S. Third St. — near the entrance to the school — that had been proposed by HISD.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission had approved the district’s plans, after a contentious public hearing. The council also held a public hearing last week, with more than three dozen Bellaire residents lining up to comment on the campus rebuilding plan.
School officials, teachers and parents said the new parking lot would improve safety for students.
Bellaire residents near the Condit campus had complained that the proposed parking lot would increase traffic congestion, harm the visual aesthetics of their neighborhood and reduce their property values.
Under the Pappas provisions, that parking lot would be reduced to 30 spaces so that a drop-off and pick-up lane for students would not be blocked by cars pulling in and out of the lot. Also, the parking lot on the Condit campus at S. Rice and Linden St, would remain in place.His plan also would require the parking lots to be lighted and open during non-school hours. Those changes were approved by a 5-1 vote, with Councilwoman Mandy Nathan opposed and Councilman Andrew Friedberg abstaining.
After rejecting Mayor Phil Nauert’s proposal to send the changes back to the Planning and Zoning Commission, the council approved the permit by a 4-1 vote, with Nathan and Friedberg abstaining, but expressing support for the new school.
Friedberg repeatedly objected to the changes, saying that it was improper for the council to rewrite the campus building plan “on the fly.”
HISD officials were surprised by the changes and declined to comment on the council’s vote.
But Condit Principal Dan Greenberg said, “We’re going to take it to our architects and see if it’s doable.”
Peggy Newhouse, a member of a team that had worked on the Condit school plan for more than a year, said: “It seems a little audacious.”
Leslie Little, a Bellaire resident who had opposed the HISD plan, said she was gratified that the council approved an alternate plan.
“Now I do feel that somebody was listening,” Little said.
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