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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBryan council approves drilling, parking; newspaper article (Oct. 1981)O~~ I 6/~ ~ BRAZOS Bryan council approves drilling, parking By DAVID CRISP Staff Writer Applications from two companies to rill for oil and gas within the Bryan ci- r limits and the first reading of an or- inance to limit downtown parking ere approved Monday by the city )until. The coun it an>~r$vleeanniications om North ~entra t orporatlon to -ill near the Briarcrest Country Club id on a 69-acre tract, including 16 ;res belonging to the City of Bryan, ;ar Red River Drive and Villa Maria Dad. An application from Lyons :troleum, Inc., to drill in the Castle eights subdivision was approved 'ter a nearby homeowner granted a giver of a city ordinance prohibiting 'illing within 300 feet of a residence. ie city staff will set the bond the com- ~ny will have to post to cover possible images to roads in the subdivision. Responding to a request by downtown merchants, the council also approved an ordinance setting a 90- minute parking limit on the east and west sides of Main Street and the west side of Bryan Street between 24th and 28th streets. But the council balked at a staff recommendation to pay $18,210 a year to enforce the ordinance,__includinit ai~,uuu in wages and benefits for so- meone to mark tires every 90 minutes and write tickets. Mayor Richard Smith said the council will deal w~th nforcement later. / The council helped a Houston developer who is trying to renovate the LaSalle Hotel by holding a public hear- ing on designating a downtown area as an "eligible blighted area." The designation would allow the Omega Management Corporation to apply for industrial revenue bonds through the Brazos County Industrial Development Corporation. Omega president Robert Renwick said such bonds carry interest rates of 12 to 14 percent at a time when conven- tional financing is prohibitively expen- sive. Because of the lack of private financing, an application for Urban Development Action Grint funds through the Department of Housing and Urban Development also has not been approved. me corporation plans to turn the LaSalle into a "first-class" 80-room hotel, Renwick said. The council cast all of its 720 votes in the election of Brazos County Ap- praisal District directors for city finance director Scott McGough, who is not expected to take office. Mayor Richard Smith said that after nominating McGough to the board, the council decided it would be better not to have a city staff member as a BCAD director. Because of legal re- quirements, the nomination could not be changed, but McGough,is expected to resign after the election, Smith said. A go ahead was given by the council to the consulting firm O'Malley and Clay, Inc., to prepare plans to upgrade the Burton Creek sewage treatment plant. The project to increase the plant's capacity to 6.4 million gallons a day would cost more than $5,million, the firm's vice president Donald Gr a ser said- He added that tho nlanc couff be approved by the end of January and construction will take about a year. City Manager Ernest Clark said the city has $4.9 million available for sewage projects, but $1.3 million already is dedicated to projects either planned or under construction. The figures include a $65,000 contract awarded Monday to R.B. Butler, Inc., for improvements at the Cottonwood Creek lift station. Graesser said the $5 million does not include needed improvements at the Still Creek plant north of town.