Natural gas lines coming to many Houston residents

The City of Houston recently signed a Notice to Proceed with ENSTAR to begin natural gas installation in several neighborhoods. Funding was approved during a city council meeting May 12 after receiving funding from the American Rescue Plan 2021.

The original funding and planning for the project goes back to 2014.

“Some of the gas line projects that were funded by the council last month originated in 2014 as an application for a Limited Improvement District (LID). The city (of Houston) has never been in a position financially to where they could do bonding, we’ve never been bonded, and it’s quite expensive to determine if you can be bonded and get your (mil) rating,” explains Houston Mayor Virgie Thompson.

At the end of September, Thompson received word that the Borough was sponsoring a Community Development Block Grant application and for those projects that qualify, the Borough would decide which projects they would assist with applying for the grant.

“As the city mayor and city manager, I went to ENSTAR to get current numbers,” she explains, and after putting together a resolution and proposal, held a special meeting of the City Council, which approved the project to move forward. Unfortunately, the project was not chosen at that time.

Though disheartened, the Mayor and City Council put together a list of Legislative priorities, and as Mayor Thompson explains, through that they were able to come up with documents needed to lock in the 2022 building season through ENSTAR and proceeded to put together a proposal for the city’s legislative request to the state.

Mayor Thompson was able to advocate for the city; however, legislative representatives for the area did not put forth any motions to amend the capital budget, leaving Houston without funding for any of the projects that need funding.

“In the meantime, as manager, not the mayor, we received notification that we qualified for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) 2021 for 2 installments of $291,000. Along with this ARPA through Congress, we were able to calculate our revenue loss during COVID, we were reimbursed.”

When discussing why funds could not be used towards something such as road repairs, a popular request in the city, Mayor Thompson explains that the requirements for this funding were for new infrastructure, not repairs for an existing issue.

“With the research, and following the guidelines, and working with resources outside the city like AML, it was determined that the money could be used for new infrastructure,” said Mayor Thompson. After crafting a resolution under the City Manager title, project approval for 2 of the 3 natural gas projects was granted by City Council.

“ENSTAR already has the permits through the city, and we will be clearing the right-of-ways,” she said, also stating that she and new Public Works Director George Thompson are trying to communicate with residents to ensure that step is completed so work can get started.

The neighborhoods affected will be sections of Enchanted Forest and Cheri Lakes subdivisions, with Morvro Lake subdivision still awaiting funding for natural gas line installations.

“We are going to apply for it with the Infrastructure funding,” Mayor Thompson says, referring to the recently signed Infrastructure Bill signed by President Joe Biden.

Mayor Thompson is cautiously optimistic about the project, saying,

“It is exciting because 144 properties will benefit, which is pretty substantial. Hopefully people can convert (to the natural gas) because the heating costs will be substantially less. I hope people can convert, and I am hoping that maybe there will be funding for people that can’t convert but want to (due to the cost).” She is currently researching programs and small grants to assist with cost offset for residents to hook up to the natural gas.

Meanwhile, Mayor Thompson is looking ahead to the anticipated Infrastructure Bill allocation process for the state and one of the priorities would be the roads in the city.

“We are also developing a roads plan, identifying all of our roads that need work,” she says. An engineering firm has been hired to evaluate the roads and put together an amount that it would cost. A public meeting will be scheduled later to address priorities and give residents an idea of what plans will look like and what to expect.