The annexation of some plants in refineries in Port Arthur’s Extra Territorial Jurisdiction may lie in the not too distant future.

The Port Arthur City Council will address an agenda item related to this topic when they meet at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 on the fifth floor of the Port Arthur City Hall. 444 Fourth St. in Port Arthur.

The council will deliberate on a resolution directing the planning department to prepare service plans for Industrial District Areas and for points of delivery of electricity by Entergy to industrial customers in the city’s ETJ.

A motion was passed on Sept. 29 to provide for the extension of full municipal service to the area to be annexed owned by the following entities:

• BASF Total Petrochemicals, LLC; BASF Corporation; Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, LP; Chevron USA, Inc.; Colonial Pipeline Company; Exxonmobil Oil Corporation; Flint Hills Resources Port Arthur, LLC; Motiva Enterprises, LLC; Oxbow; Praxair (Motiva location); Praxair Refining Group, Inc.; Premcor Refining Group, Inc.; Sunoco Pipeline, LP; TOTAL Petrochemicals USA, Inc. and Veolia.

The listed companies have “in lieu of tax agreements” that expire at the end of the year 2016. In case negotiations are not successful, the city will begin preparing an annexation timetable for said companies’ properties. The annexation timetable will adhere to the rules in the “Texas Local Government Code” and there shall be a schedule for publication, notice and public hearings.

Also up for approval is a resolution approving the Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation’s down payment assistance program policies and procedures.

The proposition was approved by voters in the May general election to allocated $300,000 a year of its sales and use tax for affordable housing in a target area of the city.

PAEDC has contracted the services of a consultant to mange the down payment assistance program and furnish certain homeownership program services.

Also related is an ordinance amending the code of ordinances to reduce permit fees and waive building permit fees related to the PAEDC’s affordable housing program. This is for new construction of 10 single-family residential structures from Oct. 1, 2016 and ending on Sept. 30, 2019, to be built by a Community Housing Development Organization acting as the project manager.

The project area will be bounded by Atlanta Street on the west, Eighth Street on the north, Nashville Street on the east and Fifth Street on the south.

The council will consider a resolution to file an application with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a Brownfield area-side planning grant for $300,000.

Brownfields are properties that may have hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants present, according to the EPA website.  EPA’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes and others to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse these contaminated properties.

Port Arthur’s Brownfield area-wide grant will focus on the Hotel Sabine and the same target area as the Downtown Revitalization Plan: The study area is defined as

Houston Avenue to the west, Seventh Street to the north, Lake Charles Avenue to the east, and the Gulf International Waterway as the southern boundary, read a city interoffice memorandum.

Lastly, the council will consider the following resolutions between the city and various entities for funding operations for the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year:

• With Lamar State College- Port Arthur and The Port Arthur Historical Society to fund the Museum of the Gulf Coast in the amount of $246,336.
• With the Port Arthur Convention and Tourist Association which manages and operates a convention/visitors bureau in the amount of $625,000.
• With The Federated Women’s Club of Port Arthur to share operating expenses of Rose Hill Manor in the amount of $153,000.
• With The Port Arthur Historical Society for funding The Pompeiian Villa in the amount of $19,800.

David Ball: 409-721-2427