The Bellaire City Council will hold two special sessions Monday, after meeting in executive session with their lawyers, to consider new operating agreements with the Evelyn’s Park Conservancy. The first executive session will be held at 6 p.m.
The council postponed consideration of the new agreements on June 16, after several citizens complained that they were being “suckered” by the conservancy.
Councilman Jim Avioli also expressed concerns about the contractual arrangements, complaining that they were “lawyered up.”
During the first executive session on Monday, the council will consider “negotiation/re-negotiation of contractual agreements with The Jerry and Maury Rubenstein Foundation and the Evelyn’s Park Conservancy Board related to the development, operations, and maintenance of Evelyn’s Park.”
During the second executive session, the council will deliberate the gift of the 5-acre tract of land and discuss “ the contractual agreements with The Jerry and Maury Rubenstein Foundation and negotiations/renegotiations.”
The council will meet in open session, after the two executive sessions, to discuss and to consider possible action on the complicated legal agreements.
The Rubenstein Foundation acquired the five-acre tract of land, which was the old Teas Nursery that operated in Bellaire for decades, in 2009. The foundation agreed to donate the land to Bellaire, for the park, if certain fundraising goals and deadlines were met.
Under a “reversion clause” in an agreement with the city, the land would return to the Rubenstein Foundation unless construction started on the park later this year.
Former Bellaire Mayor Cindy Siegel, a board member of the Evelyn’s Park Conservancy, tried to reassure citizens and the council that the new agreements remove that “reversion clause” from the original deed.
The new agreements would establish new deadlines for work on the park. The agreements also would require the city to adopt a master plan developed by the Evelyn’s Park Conservancy, and to issue $5 million in bonds this year. Bellaire voters approved those bonds for development of the park last year. The agreements also would require construction to start by Jan. 31, 2016.
The new agreements also would divide responsibilities and costs for construction, maintenance and operations between the city and the Evelyn’s Park Conservancy.
The city’s cost to build Phase 1 is estimated at $4.9 million. The Conservancy would fund more than $1 million in architectural and consulting fees, including a contingency fund. The Conservancy also would set aside a maintenance reserve of $861,000.
In addition, the Rubenstein Foundation will spend $500,000 on a memorial garden honoring their mother, for whom the park is named.
Robert Riquelmy says
I’ll be there to listen and observe the closed meeting. Other concerned residents should attend also.