Mont Belvieu focused on the big picture
March 20, 2019
As the fourth fastest growing city in the Houston suburbs, the City of Mont Belvieu showcased how it’s sustaining progress through citywide initiatives, developments and forward thinking during the annual State of the City address Tuesday.
While industrial development continues to be the focus for Mont Belvieu, the city has strategically utilized economic prosperity to create a community that reflects the desire of Mont Belvieu citizens.
City Manager Nathan Watkins said the city has a $1.7 billion industrial value, which has resulted in 100 fulltime and thousands of temporary construction jobs as industry continues to expand in 2019.
“The oil and gas industry continues to invest in the community, which is our bread and butter,” Watkins said.
The economic success will lead to the construction of 60,000 square feet of new retail and office space this year, some of which is under development next to the H-E-B on Eagle Drive.
Citizens can also expect Shine Dental on Eagle Drive, the Mont Belvieu Rehabilitation and Nursing facility, Go Johnson Staffing and Floyd’s Seafood to open this year.
“I would say (at this point) this is the strongest relationship we’ve had between the city and the (Barbers Hill) School District, and it shows,” Superintendent Greg Poole said. “We very much value Nathan and city leaders because they’re responsive and we’re working on the same topics.”
“The taxpayers benefit when tax entities truly work together,” he added.
The city’s strategic vision started to come into focus in 2018 with the completion of several key capital improvement projects that included the opening of H-E-B, which serves as an anchor to 285,000-square-feet of retail space with room for 17 additional businesses.
Watkins said the city would continue its vision by expanding Langston Drive that runs along the 87,000-square-foot grocery store.
“We’re working with the Grand Parkway Association to extend the feeder road under I-10 to get another east/west corridor into Eagle Drive,” the city manager said.
Mont Belvieu is also planning to extend Perry Avenue past Barbers Hill schools over to FM 565.
“Not only will you be able to come off the Grand Parkway to get into the city on Eagle Drive but you’ll also be able to come under I-10 and FM 565,” Watkins said.
The city is currently in the process of designing a monument entrance that will be constructed in the area of I-10 and Eagle Drive corridor once the Texas Department of Transportation reconfigures the interchange. The state transportation agency plans to reconstruct I-10 as an overpass and aims to complete the project before the start of the school year in 2020.
“This will allow us to put our stamp on what we do here and how successful we are,” Watkins said.
Many of these capital projects are driven by growth, which Watkins said is something the city tries to get ahead of as the city is projected to balloon from nearly 8,000 to 30,000 residents over the next 12 years.
“We’re looking at how we’re growing residentially, and we have subdivision guidelines that have been in place for a long time that have been a large part of the development we see (today),” Watkins said. “But we think it can be better. We think we can bring in more amenities, more quality of life elements, more green space, more parks and more recreation items.”
To better get a sense of what Mont Belvieu residents want, the city is conducting a housing study online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/mbhousing.
While growth continues to soar, Mont Belvieu still has plenty of room for improvement with nearly 2,000 acres of raw land ripe for development.
Watkins said a majority of that would be utilized for subdivisions that will reflect community input.