Buda City Council took another step March 7 towards the eventual creation of a Cabela’s connector.
The council approved a service agreement with RPS Klotz and Associates to create a design schematic and related preliminary studies for the segment 5 of the Main Street improvements project.
Allen Crozier with HDR Engineering informed council members that the firm had gone to RPS Klotz and Associates with the councils’ directions and recommendations and they had come up with the scope of the project and the fee that City Engineer John Nett had approved.
Crozier explained to council members that the connector would cost roughly $3.5 million and the city “just doesn’t have the funds for the project right now.”
However, Crozier did tell council members that if they were to secure the right-of-way as well as other preliminary actions, they would be more prepared to complete the job in the future when funding is available.
The 2014 Bond projects currently total $1.4 million without the Cabela’s connector.
Council member George Haehn made a motion to approve the service agreement with RPS Klotz and Associates, with Mayor Todd Ruge seconding the motion. Council members agreed they want to see the process for the connector get underway after almost 10 years.
“I’ve always wanted this connector,” Haehn said. “Let’s do as much as we can now to see this done.”
At this point it is unknown whether or not funds for the Cabela’s connector will be included in the FY 2017-18 budget.
