Travis County Commissioners Court
June 14, 2005
Item 21
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captioned video.
21 is to consider and take appropriate action on request to temporarily close tower road between fm 973 and bois d'arc, increasing -- in precinct 1 for a 90-day period. We got --
>> > for the installation of a 10-inch main and 30-inch storm sewer as well as reconstruction and widening of roadway.
>> > we were able to pull together a meeting this morning of the developer, the construction company, and two of the landowners along the roadway including mr. Jenkins who appeared this morning and ms. Denise martinez who also was a neighbor on the other side of the street. What you have before you is mr. Jenkins -- jennings' demands on the contractor. They are extensive and we made no progress whatsoever coming close to meeting these demands.
>> > I have never seen a demand letter like this in my life and i've seen some pretty interesting ones.
>> > I think it would be very difficult for the contractor to come to terms with what's being asked here. And for good reason.
>> > does the contractor have the ability to do what he needs to do within the legal right-of-way without stepping one inch on mr. Jennings' nor anybody else's property?
>> > he does. And he also asked and mrs. Martinez agreed to all the fencing requirements. He offered to provide mr. Jennings a second fence to keep his cattle out of the right-of-way so that there was kind of two sets of fences, one right on the right-of-way line and one another five to ten feet away to make sure the cattle would not enter into the construction zone. And mr. Jennings said he had already set out his demands so he wasn't interested in a second fence. I think it's, on the other hand, mrs. Martinez, we've got to move her cattle off the -- off her site and allow the contractor to take the fence down entirely, and they and he greed the contractor would put back in a new fence which is better than the one they had and also plant some oak trees along the perimeter of the road because he had to take out a mesquite tree so he's replacing that with five oak trees. Though he was accommodating where he could to get to the concerns of the adjoining property owners, but there was no way he was able to afford the list of demands presented by mr. Jennings. And so the meeting broke up somewhat after this.
>> > this reminds me when we were trying to get an aerial easement when we were trying to get an expansion on the parking garage. When that happened because we got a similar creative demand letter we basically said don't you dare step one millimeter over the property line and if you drop a hammer, let it be. This is --
>> > and the contractors were asked specifically can you complete the construction within the existing right-of-way and they said that they would. They certainly understood the implications if they didn't.
>> > .
>> > if the contractors, as soon as they can do that, my whole point is the contractors say they can stay within that right-of-way boundary without disrupting anything of the property owners in that particular case and have made arrangements to accommodate those other property owners, I would like to maybe move forward with this, definitely the work needs to be done. And I guess let me ask legal this question. Tom, is there anything to prohibit us legally from not moving forward with this particular request if the contractor has said that they would not be -- they could actually do the work within the legal right-of-way?
>> > we're not cutting off access to mr. Jennings' land. He still has access to his land from points on the road or other roads that aren't being closed.
>> > yes.
>> > so -- okay. With that statement from our attorney, i'd like to move -- go ahead and move approval.
>> > on the road closure. I'll second that.
>> > any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. With Commissioner Daugherty temporarily away.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 8:10 PM
