Bryan City Council and residents continue College Station sewer trunk line discussion

Bryan College Station Eagle 
by BAILEY BROWN, bailey.brown@theeagle.com
July 11, 2023 at 10:27PM

Bryan city councilors and residents weighed in again Tuesday night on a potential sewer trunk line created by the city of College Station that could run through the historic Beverley Estates neighborhood in Bryan.

Beverley Estates/Rosemary Homeowners Association president Scott Hickle, who lives on Park Lane, addressed the council during Tuesday night’s meeting and was grateful for his city’s continued efforts in hearing citizen concerns.

“Thank you for putting up with this situation just as we have for the last several months,” he said. “I am telling you we have 100% unqualified support from our residents in Bryan. And we really hope that the situation can be worked out. Something that just occurred, apparently there is a bid out for a lift station in College Station that we just became aware of. Which is kind of funny on the timing standpoint and it is also kind of a little bit strange I guess you could say in regards to some of the folks over there that are totally against lift stations; and now here they are going to put in a lift station, which we all knew was going to happen. Other than that, those are just facts and you can make of them what you will.”

Following the discussion, The Eagle reached out to the city of College Station asking if there are current bids on a lift station. College Station’s department for water services confirmed they are replacing an old system.

“We’re bidding on a very small lift station that will take the Carter Lake Lagoon system — one of three wastewater treatment plants we operate — offline,” the department stated. “The older lagoon system currently treats the supernatant [a clear liquid overlying material deposited by settling, precipitation or centrifugation] from about 30 homes in the Carter Lake subdivision. The new lift station’s force main will outfall into the gravity line that was recently constructed through/near the proposed ballpark on Rock Prairie.”

College Station City Council members will ultimately decide between two routes being considered: a lift station along Chimney Hill and Cooner Street or a right-of-way route along North Rosemary Drive in the Beverley Estates neighborhood. A vast majority of the lift station route lies within College Station's city limits, while the Rosemary Drive route is within Bryan's city limits. 

A lift station is a hole in the ground with a concrete or fiberglass basin, where generally two or more pumps are installed which push the sewer flow through a force main to a downstream point, either to another lift station or a treatment plant, according to Virginia-based Dewberry Construction.

Bryan city councilman James Edge said he appreciates Bryan residents' patience with the council as it waits on which decision will be made.

“I know this has not been easy for all of you that are affected by this proposed project and I also want you to know that we have not forgotten," Edge said. "I know it seems like at times these months go by and it seems like we are neglecting you guys, but I promise it is on the forefront of most of us up here on the dais, think about this every day. I just want you to know we are still as committed to assisting you guys to preserving your neighborhood as we ever have been. Moving forward we will respond as we need to and if we need to proactively take action, as far as I am concerned, as one councilmember I am prepared to do so.”

Councilmembers Marca Ewers-Shurtleff and Kevin Boriskie shared similar comments to Edge and said they were thankful for the citizen input and are invested in finding a solution.

Mayor Bobby Gutierrez concluded the discussion by also thanking the residents for their comments and said they are “constantly in conversations” about this topic.

“We haven’t forgotten," Gutierrez said. "And we do know that it takes two and it is going to take the people in College Station and the citizens of College Station to speak not only to their council people and their mayor but their city staff, and let them know that they also don’t agree with what is going on over there. It is kind of ironic that they would be setting out for bid a lift station right now, when we have been told all of the stuff that we have been told.”

College Station city staff has stated from the beginning that a large cost factor and the reliability and sustainability of a lift station are weighed heavily in consideration of a lift station for the Cooner Street route.

Guttierrez added that “lift stations are an integral part of any planning development or any development going forward.”

“Unless, you’re city is built at the top of a hill and your treatment center is at the very bottom of the hill, there is going to be a pump and a lift somewhere,” he said. “Going forward we are trying to work with anything that we can that will help them make an easy decision as well. And believe me it is just as hard for them sitting on that deal as it is us sitting over here. They are having to make those decisions to pay for something that is going to be a little bit more expensive.”

College Station city staff stated the reason a sewer trunk line is necessary is in order to prepare for growth the Northgate District will bring to the city. Texas A&M University has been mentioned from both Bryan and College Station councilors and residents, to either have a say in the matter or even offset the cost of the lift station route.

Gutierrez said he had a “great meeting” Tuesday morning with Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp.

“[Sharp] could care less about the pump station or the lift station over there, it is not part of his deal,” Gutierrez said at the meeting. “This is part of Northgate and only Northgate and has nothing to do with Century Square and the park area around Hensel Park. He made me 100% clear on that. I feel comfortable that whatever we are doing, we are going to be doing a good job with it as well.

"You do have our support whatever their decision is; we are still going to have our support. And I just hope it doesn’t go to that. I am not trying to talk down to anybody, not to you guys, not to them and not to our council. I do think it is a hard decision they have to come through, not only for the elected officials but for their city staff.”