Travis County Commissioners Court
October 31, 2006
Item 21
Joe is still here. So -- and Commissioner Gomez did send word that she wishes that we would go ahead and on number 21 rather than wait.
>> 21 is is to consider and take appropriate action on participation agreement with sr development inc. With the construction of elroy road in southeast Travis County, precinct four.
>> good afternoon, judge and Commissioners. I'm steve mill. What you have presented before you today is a participation agreement with the developer that replaces a phasing agreement that was created for improvements to elroy road back in the year 2000. In 2001 we had a bond referendum that included monies for improving elroy road, this same stretch of elroy road and the developers commitments from the phasing agreement and the county ootion bond monies were merged together to create this agreement. It's different than the participation agreements you've been hearing about in 2005 in that we didn't have a structured guidelines and terms, conditions, whatever you want to call them for developing this particular agreement. Noarz, the 2005 guidelines say the developer shall dedicate all right-of-way, he shall split the cost 50/50 for design and construction and in this particular case it was not set up that way. We were dealing with a phasing agreement, wrp dealing with agreement that was occurring over the years that had plat processing requirements to dedicate right-of-way. And the end result of several months of negotiations with the developer is that we now have an agreement that tells us what's going to be done, when it's going to be done, who's going to do it, how it's going to be be paid for, and we are at the position where I'm ready to recommend approval of the agreement. And if it does go through, then the developer is ready to start construction within a few weeks, and I would qualify that with he's waiting to see what happens with lsi that's building 130 in this same neck of the woods. Worst case it may not start until January, best case in a few weeks. 'I work with tom on agreement, so he's here as well.
>> we have residents before us at the last meeting, you know. I guess the question, did we as best we could answer the questions they had that addressed their concerns?
>> regarding the road closure?
>> no way to get around what we could close the road, but that really would greatly prolong the construction period, wouldn't it?
>> what they were asking us to consider was leaving traffic on the existing two lanes while we build two new lanes. And that does prolong the contract. And the quickest way to get it done, the safest way and the least expensive is just to close the whole stretch of elroy road and divert traffic that would normally just be passing through that area around it before it gets to the area. The people who raised the most comments were ones that live right there at the road project site itself in the stone any ridge subdivision. And we have addressed their concerns about access to and from their subdivision and out of that area. And access to the school that's out there.
>> and didn't we have some no choices in this and that. When (indiscernible) is doing that work, that road is shut down. And it is basically leveraging when they are doing some of their work and getting some of ours done at the same time.
>> that's right, Commissioner. We have been planning for our roadwork to be done during the time that lsi needed to close down the road to do roadwork. That has been the game plan all along. But people raise a lot of questions about it and we're compelled to consider, reconsider and I think they understand for the most part that this is -- this will be be the least disruptive to them and he'll get it done quicker.
>> there will be disruption on fm 812, in that area. As far as maybe having some mobility on fm 812 in that same area?
>> this project will not impact 812. Believe I believe there was one person testify about concerns about traffic safety on 812, which is a txdot highway. And those types of concerns exist whether or not we're going to do elroy road. She was talking about the potential for putting in a traffic signal at the intersection of 812 and I think 973. She had also talked about some timing issues on fm 973 at pierce lane. And my response at that time was if a problem occurs -- there's a problem right now, but if it gets exasperated to the fact where it's intolerable, then txdot would need to send an engineer out to study the situation to decide how to try to correct that. I don't know that they have a lot of options to correct other than changing the green time on the direction of the signals. It's going to be be messy out there. While lsi is out there and we're out there for the next year, it's going to be messy.
>> one of us committed to monitor the situation, be and if it gets real problematic, try to work with the state to provide some relief.
>> absolutely, judge. Even if our own roads, we're directing traffic on the ross road out to pierce lane. If that particular intersection becomes problematic, we've told folks if necessary we will hire a deputy sheriff to be out there during peak hours to help guide traffic for that intersection. We're not just going to walk away from the deal once we put the signs up.
>> move Commissioner Gomez's motion.
>> second.
>> discussion is? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 11:30 AM