Travis County Commissioners Court
March 3, 2009,
Item 36
>> let me indicate my intention to call up 36.
36.
consider and take appropriate action in response to revelation that Texas department of transportation road project may require the relocation of certain county facilities.
we simply indicate that this matter may be taken into executive session under consultation with attorney, real property exceptions to the open meetings act.
i must say that I learned I guess a week or so ago that the txdot has expansion plans, for highway 71, right there at 973 and that project may impact county facilities.
it's preimportant because we are about to expand two of those facilities and invest quite a bit of money.
and so hopefully this item will give us a good indication of what the -- what the -- what the state has in mind.
if you would give us your name, we would be happy to get your --
>> sure.
my name is
>> [indiscernible] department of transportation director of planning and development.
and I brought with me two experts, terry mccoy the area engineer in charge of that area, duane halbadeer the director of central design in case you have any questions that I can't answer.
he's setting up a big board and it's basically a copy of the handout that we have given you.
just to give you a little bit of background, the planning on this project has been going on for years.
before my time, I've only been in the position about a year and a half.
but recently January of last year, we held a public meeting to discuss the alignment on this project.
what was discussed at the meeting was basically two major alternative alignments.
one being the one that's shown right here, the other one being a continuation of the west leg of 973.
the -- the problem with the west leg is that as you know when the cross the colorado river, 973 takes a hard turn to the west.
so in going down the west leg of 973, once you cross the river it's hard to ever get back to the existing alignment.
this alignment was selected as the preferred alternative, that's what we've been developing thus far.
if you look at your handout, I believe we have cross hatched the areas that we understand to be Travis County properties.
so it gives you an idea of -- of what property has the potential for taking.
and just to give you some numbers, if you look at the -- at the community activity center, that's the -- I believe it has kind of the orange roof on it, the southern -- at the southern property line just for dimensions, we need to be taking approximately 17 feet of width at the southern property line.
at the northern property line, that would be about 92 feet.
so that gives you a little bit of perspective on the property.
>> [one moment please for change in captioners]
>> this connect to 71 east?
as it exists currently?
>> on the -- maybe I should have given a better perspective.
the light green is the improvements made to 71.
that is where we build frontage roads on state highway 71.
that is the green up and down the paimg.
and the -- the page.
the pink or magenta, whatever color that is, represents a new alignment for fm 973 and where it would tie into highway 71.
>> okay.
so then the red lanes would tie into 973 north of 71.
>> right, where the north leg ties in right now.
>> I'm sorry, the reason why -- I'm just looking at the alignment and the reason why it lists to the west rather than to the east is why?
>> well, we're still taking the majority of the property from the east side, but we have to take some property from the west side to get back over to that alignment on 71 that -- the existing north leg of 973.
but we are trying to minimize the right-of-way taking, only taking the minimum for the road.
>> so you have a budget for right-of-way acquisition?
>> yes.
i did not bring that budget with me.
i don't know exactly what it is.
>> so had somebody at txdot planned to contact the county at some point?
>> we actually notified the county of our public hearing back in January of 2008.
>> January of 2008?
>> yes.
>> is that the same as notifying us that you may need county property to make the project go?
>> I don't think we're at the -- we're not at the point of being able to acquire property yet.
we have to go through the environmental process.
we're developing an environmental assessment document right now.
we're not expecting that to be cleared for another 15 month.
so we cannot acquire any property until we do through that environmental process.
>> okay.
we have voted to expand a treatment facility close to this alignment and to build a new health clinic close to it.
and I don't know that it would have made sense for us to build those and then be notified that y'all are a few feet away.
even if you don't need the land itself, you will be very, very close.
i guess we need to exercise whatever options we have at this point, but it was thooferred do that without having notice of it.
i found out as county judge about a week ago.
and to be honest, I don't make it a point to learn about txdot public hearings.
y'all are probably like us, you have numerous, multiple.
>> do you have a copy of the notice of the hearing?
>> I'm sorry?
>> do you have a copy of the notice of the hearing?
>> I have a copy of the notice to the county about the hearing.
>> that would be great.
>> and also, where does this alignment -- 973 as it goes points south, when it gets to 812 of course it's over on the other side.
is this particular proposal supposed to connect that disconnect of 973 when it hits, when it deads in -- it doesn't really dead end, it just picks up on the other side further down across 812 as it ventures beyond sh 130.
this is supposed to be that far?
>> if you can look right there, that's as far as this particular project is going.
>> where does it stop?
where is the stopping point, the beginning and ending point?
>> right where the red ends is where it would stop.
>> all right.
what -- but what is that?
what point is that where it stops?
what point is that?
in other words, it stops somewhere, but what is the point of where it stops?
>> do you know the name of that road or that driveway?
>> I need to know where that is.
>> how far south of 969.
>> how far south does it go --
>> from 969.
>> south of 71 down south.
>> right here where it says --
>> [ inaudible ].
>> we need you to the microphone, please.
>> like he was saying, the green is sh 71.
north is going this way.
here is going south.
here's the corner of the county's property that I understand from tcad records and right here is where we're tying back to existing service.
as far as distance --
>> what's the stopping --
>> it's about 700 feet -- hold on.
>> what's the length of the --
>> almost a mile.
>> almost a mile.
yes, sir.
>> a mile would be about right here.
>> almost a mile from that point.
>> let me back up.
>> all right.
go ahead.
just take your time.
>> this is actually existing and I guess there's a curve right here.
and in the future there will probably be another project taking off from this point, but to answer your question how far south of sh 71, it's 3,000 feet.
>> 3,000 feet.
>> yes, sir.
>> from 71?
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
and north of 71 it will tie back in before you get to colorado river there's a separate project to rebuild the colorado river bridge.
we're trying to get that project going.
it's been funded for the year 2010.
if we can get through the environmental process and get some of the property acquired, there is funding for that in 2010.
>> so that's been included, but that will be --
>> that will be a separate project.
>> as that old bridge right there --
>> any other questions for txdot?
we need to try to get y'all into executive session, I think.
>> can I say something on that, where the Travis County properties are on this map?
>> I think the front page shows where exactly you're cutting through the county property.
and it will be a displacement of the community center and then like the judge said, it also will affect the clinic that is proposed to be there.
the other one that is really crucial to me is the smart facility.
we have a very difficult time trying to find a place for these folks to get the services that they need from Travis County.
and county government, since we're in charge of the correctional or the criminal justice system, we're the only ones who can deliver those services to these folks.
nobody wants them anywhere.
we found a home for them.
and now we're going to displace them again?
where in the world are we going to be able to go find property that is appropriate for the placement of this facility?
and this facility has been there many years already.
so to me it's not an appropriate taking at all.
we have to have a place for these folks.
>> the two of you know about this now?
>> we know a lot more now than we did 15 minutes ago.
i think --
>> I think we need to take it into executive session this afternoon and chat with staff and legal.
any other questions for txdot representatives since we have them here?
>> not right now.
>> we appreciate you coming down.
widening 973 is probably a real good idea.
taking our property to do it -- you know, the benefits kind of pale.
>> I understand.
>> but we can deal with reality.
reality for us is continue to invest really huge sums of public dollars to expand facilities that are difficult to bring in real populated areas.
and so we tend to locate them on the fringe.
when it comes to alcohol and substance abuse, nobody wants it in the neighborhood.
way out there is -- maybe the best we can do unfortunately.
so there is some impact.
it may be close.
close is not good.
giving up county land is even worse.
sort of finding out at the last minute not good either.
that was an open house that I received notice of, and you can't read that and read into it, we may need county property to do the project.
when will a final decision be made on an alignment?
>> we're expecting approval -- we're expecting to get clearance on the environmental document in about 15 months.
so we still have a little over a year to go.
>> so if you don't get final approval on the alignment we're looking at, what are you left with?
>> well, we would have to address any comments and that would just lengthen the process.
>> but you believe that -- you believe you will get final approval of this aliement at some point?
>> well, we could also make minor adjustments to the alignment.
it just lengthens the process because every time we make adjustments we have to go pack to the public and discuss it again.
>> well, I just think the public may need to be -- there needs to be a better way of communicating especially on the notice.
that's always -- I've always kind of frowned at the way notices are really issued out, especially to another governmental entity.
my goodness gracious, here you are the state and you're dealing with the county, and the kind of notice that came down is really in my opinion not appropriate.
all of us are up here, but I didn't receive a in the.
we're the governing body of Travis County that you're looking at here, and of course we've got to do a better job especially with government dealing with other governmental enentities and we have a relationship.
>> how many people came to the public hearing?
>> I don't know, but I can get that information for you.
>> that would be interesting to know.
also the alignment as it stands, is that administratively approved or does it have to go before the commission?
>> no, it just has to go through the environmental process, which means that fhwa --
>> if it's administratively aproved it goes for an environmental and if environmental passes it, then it's good to go.
>> that's correct.
>> so the public hearing is the only opportunity for comment by individuals who are affected?
>> we haven't had the public hearing yet.
that was only an open house, one of the public meetings.
we haven't had the public hearing yet.
>> and the public hearing won't occur until --
>> do you remember when?
>> it's not scheduled yet.
sometimes in the next 10 months.
>> sometimes in the next 10 months.
>> make sure we're notified.
i want to make sure that happens.
>> what I wanted to do is let us give you notice right now because that way whenever the hearing is held between now and the next nine months, you already have our remarks on this.
this is not good for county dpomplet.
>> right.
i spoke with your engineer earlier.
we'll work with your engineer on the plan.
>> so we need to kind of give you notification right now is what I will like to do.
so regardless of when the public hearing is, we start it today with day one to tell you of our pop sition to this -- our opposition to this.
>> right.
i understand.
>> ms.
fleming?
>> thank you, judge.
sherri fleming, executive manager for health and human services.
my question is the location of the public hearings and is there any plans to have a public hearing in the area?
our facility is there, the facilities the court references.
so that community in that immediate area could be available at those public hearings.
>> yes, ma'am.
all the public meetings are held in the area.
the public meeting was held at the del valle junior high school.
>> let's get a couple of copies of this.
>> may we keep this copy?
>> you can have that copy.
>> we will -- we appreciate you coming down today.
check with staff -- are you the contact person?
>> yes.
>> on this?
>> yes.
if there's -- if you would prefer us to notify you of meetings and hearings in a different way in the future, we will be glad to do that.
>> yeah, I think it would be very appropriate to do that in my opinion.
>> I'm amazed that the transportation people at txdot didn't work with transportation folks at the county on this.
>> also it's by on bob daigh who we all see at least monthly.
and yet we're unaware of it.
>> it's amazing, isn't it?
>> anything else from txdot today?
thank you very much for coming down.
i hate to chew on you all, but we had to chew on somebody.
>> [ laughter ]
>> only way we can make improvements.
>> thank you.
>> we'll have another conversation soon.
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, March 3, 2009 2:17 PM