College Station proposes sewage line crossing in Bryan historic neighborhood

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - A heated meeting between the City of College Station and residents from Bryan previewed just what’s to come as a neighborhood fights a sewage line project.

College Station is looking to finish a four-phase sewer line project, in order to connect the growing Northgate area to the Carter Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. To achieve this, College Station has proposed a one-mile line through a historic neighborhood in Bryan.

This line would run through Beverly Estates, located on Rosemary Drive. With some of the oldest homes in town, residents of the neighborhood are concerned with the impact.

The meeting at College Station City Hall Wednesday night brought current and former mayors from both cities.

Bryan residents and leaders spoke out during the meeting, about their frustrations with the lack of alternate options. This proposal has yet to go in front of the council, so no decisions have been made.

Bryan Mayor, Bobby Gutierrez, says if it were his council, this proposal would stop in its tracks.

“This is something that’s coming into the City of Bryan, that doesn’t service anybody in the City of Bryan. I would give you my word that if we had another thing to do, I would never vote for something, as a Mayor, that would say we’re going to run through and take eminent domain and run through the City of College Station, just because we want to have a better outcome for ourselves. I would never do that, ever,” he said.

The College Station Director of Capital Projects, Jennifer Cain, shared the proposal with residents Wednesday night. While she faced many interruptions and questions from residents, she says the work on the proposal is not done. And, city staff will be taking those conversations into account.

“There was certainly a lot of passion tonight which we completely understand, it’s their neighborhoods and their front yard, anybody would feel that way about their property. It’s especially unique because it’s in the City of Bryan for the City of College Station. So, it adds a little bit extra there that isn’t on a typical project and so it was great to have such a good turnout,” Cain said. “We really enjoyed getting the feedback. That’s really what we want. And although it is hard sometimes to hear all the opinions and figure out the best way forward and it really is the desire of the City of College Station to get that feedback and see what we can do to make it as least impactful as possible.”

Gutierrez told College Station staff during the meeting that decisions on this project and College Station’s ability to listen to Bryan residents could impact the relationship between the cities for decades.

KBTX spoke with neighborhood leaders about how they plan to prevent this sewage line on Rosemary Drive and will have an in-depth story Thursday.

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