Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
La Marque council approves TIRZ plan, zoning readings, easement and equipment purchases; several items deferred to Monday
Summary
In addition to the TIRZ and police-bond discussions, the council approved first readings and votes on multiple zoning and procurement items, confirmed board appointments, authorized an easement, approved a change order and purchased mobile command terminals; the police-bond order was reset for a Monday meeting.
La Marque city council on Aug. 11 considered a broad slate of routine and substantive items beyond the police-station debate, approving a tax-increment reinvestment zone plan, several zoning and procurement matters, and confirming board appointments while deferring or rescheduling other business.
Votes at a glance (key items passed or moved): - Ordinance O-2025-0014 (TIRZ No. 2 project plan and reinvestment financing): Approved (voice vote). See separate article. - Ordinance O-2025-0016 (zoning map amendment, ~0.756 acres, Fleming & Partridge): First reading/approved on the record (vote recorded as passage; one abstention later noted for a councilmember who was absent for much of the meeting). - Ordinance O-2025-0017 (zoning amendment, ~1.889 acres from C-1 to I-2): First reading/approved. - Resolution R-2025-0034 (assignment of private activity bond authority to Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to facilitate a single-family mortgage origination program): Approved. - Contract (special election ratification): Deferred to Monday, Aug. 18, to follow the general obligation bond discussion (motion to defer approved). - CenterPoint easement (short-form blanket easement related to wastewater treatment plant relocation work): Approved; council agreed the blanket instrument is temporary and will be corrected to a 30-foot easement in a follow-up recording once the relocation is finalized. - Change Order No. 12, citywide sanitary sewer rehabilitation project (Southern Trenchless Solutions LLC, GLO contract 22-083-003-D208): Approved; staff said no net contract-cost increase and work will continue in specified areas. - Purchase of 12 mobile command terminals (MCTs) using FY25 Senate Bill 224 grant (80% grant, 20% city match): Approved (grant-funded purchase; estimated city match ~$8,900 of $43,000 total). - Boards/commissions: Appointments and reassignments were made; Laura Devine was appointed to Ordinance Review; Felix Brown was appointed to the Special Events Committee (a prior nomination to Building Standards was rescinded and replaced with the events committee seat). - Special Events Committee: Council clarified membership and voting structure (10 members enumerated; committee may call police and fire as resources when needed). - Executive session action: Council authorized the mayor to execute a settlement agreement in Lamarck Economic Development Corporation v. Texas City Terminal Railway Co., cause No. 20-CV-0633.
Details and clarifications: - Zoning actions (Ordinances O-2025-0016 and O-2025-0017) were presented as first readings and were approved on the council floor following public and staff comment; one councilmember later announced an abstention on 9-2 due to absence from earlier discussion. - Resolution R-2025-0034 was presented as coming from the Southeast Texas Housing Authority; staff said it would facilitate a homeownership mortgage program aimed at frontline employees by assigning private activity bond authority to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. - CenterPoint easement: Staff and the project engineer explained the temporary blanket easement allows CenterPoint to relocate overhead and underground lines ahead of construction; staff said the blanket instrument will be narrowed to the permanent 30-foot easement and an exhibit map is attached to the agreement. - Mobile command terminals: Police Chief Hargard said the FY25 SB224 grant covers 80 percent of the cost; the city’s 20 percent match is budgeted. Chief Hargard estimated the equipment had an asset-life planning horizon of roughly five years given rapid technology turnover and asked for formal inventory tracking. - Special Events Committee membership: Council named voting members (EDC representative, parks board rep, Keep La Marque Beautiful rep, mayor, mayor pro tem, administration, communications, finance, two at-large members) and clarified alternates and resource participation for police/fire when needed.
What’s next: Several items will generate follow-up work: staff will reconfirm engineering exhibits and the final easement language for the CenterPoint work; finance and grant staff will record the mobile terminal inventory and useful-life assumptions; and the council will meet Monday, Aug. 18, to revisit the police bond order if needed.
