Bellaire stands to collect up to $400,000 from selling part of Chestnut Street to a local surgical hospital looking to expand its clinic. Bellaire Mayor Cindy Siegel wants to funnel that money straight to a special fund for buying parkland.
After the Bellaire City Council voted unanimously on March 22 to consider the new parks funding mechanism, staffers will create a policy that would mandate that the city purchase parkland with any money from sales of city easements, rights-of-way, streets or similar public land.
“The big thought here was instead of taking this money and it just goes to operating funds and it’s gone, theoretically within a year, it would go into something that has value for residents for a long time,” Siegel said on March 22.
Last year the city council added a line item for parkland acquisition to the city budget, but never appropriated funds for it. In its annual report this year, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board asked to open a dialog with council about creating a funding mechanism for buying parkland. The board wants the council to set aside $200,000 per year for the fund.
“This year Parks Board was very interested in finding a way to be able to choose to react quickly in the real estate market to purchase additional park land in Bellaire,” the board’s annual report said. “If funds were readily available to use, the city and parks could benefit from a timely opportunity.”
Siegel said it was her husband’s idea to use funds from selling city-owned properties to purchase land for parks. Such sales do not happen with great regularity, so it’s possible the funding mechanism wouldn’t frequently add funds to the parkland acquisitions budget.
“But if we abandon just one street for whatever reason, it could be several hundred thousand all at once,” said City Manager Bernie Satterwhite.
It’s a good time to raise the idea, because the city right now is considering the sale of a portion of right-of-way on Chestnut Street between Bissonnet and First Streets.
First Street Hospital at 4801 Bissonnet St. is seeking city permits to double the size of its building. The two-story, $4.3 million addition would run parallel to Bissonnet Street, covering the existing parking lot. Part of the strip center on the tract would be torn down for a new parking lot.
The company has applied to buy part of Chestnut Street for the project. Community Development Director John McDonald said the appraisal on the tract was $400,000.
“It’s just a starting point,” McDonald said. “The council would look at that number and take into consideration other factors.”
Parks and Recreation Director Jane Dembski said $400,000 could conceivably be enough money to purchase land for a new pocket park in Bellaire. The city’s park master plan calls for a park within a quarter mile of any resident in the city.
“It’s kind of a national average of what you seek to have for your residents, is to have a park within walking distance,” Dembski said. “So they are able to walk to a park, have a picnic, or their kids can play on a playground.”
Since land values in Bellaire continue to rise year after year, and the market is competitive, Dembski said it’s important to be ready to act quickly when any suitable parkland comes on the market.
“Many people buy them up so quickly so the city doesn’t have time to go through the regular process,” she said. “The process would be shortened if we had a fund sitting there.”
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