Town Center project unanimously approved for Clear Lake Shores

$2 million project

Vilas Bhuchar, Dec 17, 09.

Clear Lake Shores City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to direct the Clear Lake Shores Economic Development Corporation to move forward with plans for a Town Center Project, according to Guidry News Service.

To fund part of the $2 million project, the story notes that the EDC is planning to issue $1.4 million in sales tax revenue and adds:

Council Member Bryan Hoerner, who made the motion, also directed that an advisory committee to refine the scope of the project be formed. The committee will consist of Hoernor, EDC Board Member Ronnie Richards, and three residents.

According to the story, the project has detractors who are unhappy that the city is moving forward with the project despite a petition filed to require bonds for the project. The story adds that the city, however, received counsel from a law firm, whose opinion was described in the article:

Dan Pleitz with the Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee law firm, had given an opinion to the city that the EDC can continue with the project despite the issuance of a petition. Under the Petition Right, an election is not required following a petition filing “if the qualified citizens of the city have previously approved the undertaking of a specific project or that general type of project at an election called for that purpose by the governing body of the city or in conjunction with another election required to be held under that section”.

“It is our belief that the voters of the city have already approved the ‘general type of project’ which has become the Town Center Project,” Pleitz said.

Full story

(Photo credit: City of Clear Lake Shores)