By Megan Wehring
WIMBERLEY – After not seeing an update for 12 years, the Wimberley City Council unanimously approved some components of the proposed Transportation Master Plan last week.
Earlier this year, the city of Wimberley engaged transportation consultants to study roadway safety, traffic flow, roads and pedestrian issues throughout the city limits. The city is continuing to work with CP&Y Inc., which is a consulting firm with expertise in transportation issues including ADA accessibility, route and feasibility studies along with design and schematics.
On Dec. 1, the Wimberley City Council voted to remove items 14, 19 and 20 – these were among some of the projects that were carried forward from the 2010 plan. In the project list, these items are labeled as collectors.
• Item 14 would have constructed a new location roadway from Wayside Drive to Ranch Road 2325
• Item 19 would have constructed a new location roadway from Cypress Creek Lane to Winters Mill Parkway
• Item 20 would have constructed a new location roadway from Flite Acres Rd to RM 3237
Mayor Gina Fulkerson said that after listening to several comments during the public hearing, many were concerned about the environmental impact of roads 14, 19 and 20 if they were constructed.
“We have amazing resources here in this room and they are telling us that they think the best protection for our resources and our watershed is to not put these roads on. I, for one, highly respect their opinion,” Fulkerson said. “They have been involved in developments enough to know where leverage can be and where it can’t be. We can put things in our subdivision ordinance and that’s something that the Hill Country Alliance and Wimberley Valley Watershed Association have talked about with the city to put a lot of those things, like the easements and roads having a certain width … You don’t have to put it on the map with the fear of being these are in the ETJ and under the control of the county. If they have constituents that want to develop, they may come along with a road bond and there they are.”
Mayor pro tem Rebecca Minnick said that the city council needed to pass some type of transportation plan at that meeting because if not, they would need to still follow the one from 2010.
“Instead of looking at the plan in five years, [I suggest] to look at the plan in one year or 18 months or something like that and to do it in a way that has a good town hall project, stakeholder strategy and to also educate the community on what the plan can do and it’s supposed to do,” Minnick said.
Council member Jim Chiles agreed that the city needs to review the transportation plan more frequently.
“I would agree that we are safe doing it as long as we don’t wait 10 years to look at it again,” Chiles said.
For more information about all of the projects currently in the Transportation Master Plan, visit https://www.cityofwimberley.com/318/Transportation-Plan.
The Wimberley Transportation Advisory Board is set to meet on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 4 p.m. and the city council is set to meet again on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m.
