By Andy Sevilla.
Despite gaining the go-ahead by voters last May, without the private donation of right-of-way land for Marketplace Avenue’s extension, officials say the project will stall, could change or even die.
“Why would we move forward not knowing the state of the right-of-way yet?” Councilwoman Diane Hervol asked city staff during deliberations for approval of engineering contracts for the five road bond streets.
For now, City Manager Lanny Lambert said the proposal is to “put (Marketplace Avenue’s improvements) on the back burner.”
“We’re not going to authorize a notice-to-proceed (with road engineering) until we get closer to the right-of-way acquisition,” Lambert said. “So this (project) has the least amount of time pressure (of the five road bond streets) for you to approve... We have not been successful in acquiring the right-of-way from the property owner.”
Last May, Kyle voters approved a $36 million road bond that would fund the reconstruction of Bunton Creek, Burleson, Goforth and Lehman roads, as well as extend Marketplace Avenue to north Burleson Street.
Leading to the council’s calling of a $36 million road bond election last year, Assistant City Manager James Earp told council the owners of the Parker property (the land area where the street’s extension would traverse) had assured city staff they would donate the right-of-way needed for Marketplace Avenue’s extension. That alleged verbal agreement never materialized in writing.
“We’re still in negotiations with the owners and we haven’t made any progress,” said City Engineer Leon Barba. “We can choose to table this (road improvement); we can choose to move forward. Our intent was to not issue a notice-to-proceed until we had everything in order.”
Ultimately, the council approved the engineering contract for the street’s extension, but that approval is contingent upon the city’s acquisition of the necessary right-of-way.
“I think to put sufficient pressure on the land owner is important to get their attention,” Councilman David Wilson said.
And the city has less than five years to acquire the necessary road clearance and begin the roadway’s engineering. As it stands, the Marketplace improvements are slated at the tail end of the road bond street projects, which are scheduled to begin in 2015. Officials have said Bunton Creek Road will be the first to undergo reconstruction.
With Marketplace’s engineering contract approval, “you’re authorizing me to sign it, and I’m not going to sign it until we get closer to the right-of-way acquisition,” Lambert said. “We have informed the engineer (K Friese and Associates, Inc.) of that fact and intend to keep them in the information loop.”
The engineering contracts, on March 18, were the third time council members had them on their agenda for approval. The elected officials had previously rejected action, as the contracts then were incomplete and still undergoing changes. Ultimately council approved the five engineering contracts with a 6-1 vote. Councilman Chad Benninghoff was the lone dissenter in all the projects.
Benninghoff said at the meeting that he only had “a handful of days” to review the final contracts and wasn’t comfortable voting on projects he hadn’t fully vetted.
“This is a huge expenditure of taxpayer dollars and I just want to make sure I get my vote right,” he said. “I want to make sure the contracts are good. You guys (city staff) have done some excellent work on the contracts, I just need time to review them – I’ve only had a handful of days.”
Wilson said residents have expressed much frustration with council’s inaction on the roads’ improvements.
“I want to be clear to those that are concerned … that we’re trying to move forward here,” Wilson said. “… We hear your pain about, ‘you vote in May, and I’m not seeing anything and things aren’t moving.’”
The engineering and right-of-way acquisition for all the projects is estimated at $5.16 million. At full build out, the total project cost is estimated at $35.3 million, and conservatively equates to a $0.20-cent increase on city property taxes.
Leading up to the road bond vote last year, officials said Kyle homeowners would not be subject to a 20-cent increase on their ad valorem taxes, and likely would see a smaller up charge.
State demographers have estimated Kyle’s population explosion to continue in the years ahead, for which council members said last year, property taxes brought on by the road bond would have a lessened affect on existing homeowners than originally forecasted.
